Good, Better, Best

Good thing: Celebrating Halloween,

Better Thing: Being on a mission,

Best Thing: Having a baptism.

I´m currently sitting in a better thing, missing the good thing, hoping for the best thing. We didn´t have a baptism this weekend, but we sure did try hard. One cool thing that happened, is that we have one of the best missionaries currently doing divisions with us. Hermana Gonzalez is from Chile and she is amazing. So amazing, that Presidente Gulbrandsen essentially called her as an AP to go around and work with all the Hermanas for a week and help them really reach their potential. Last week she was in Rio Gallegos, this week she is in Vicinte Lopez (with us) and next week, we have no idea where she will be. But with her, we had a power play, and this week was incredible. First we got to go pick her up from the airport that´s actually pretty close. And since then we have just been teaching, teaching, teaching. We actually had planning on Wednesday and so we looked through our old Area book to find any person who could get baptized this weekend. And then we prayed about the names and narrowed it down to 4 investigators. It was an incredible experience because we prayed specifically for each name, and really took the time to search for the answer. Paying attention to our thoughts and feelings. This week was a feeling week. And you know how I´m not much of a touchy feely kind of person? I think that may have been holding me back.... a lot. So, I´m open to change, and I´m trying to be more of a feely type of person. It´s kind of weird, but really awesome all at the same time. I also cry a lot more, but the tears help me de-stress so it´s okay. I know this because it happened Wednesday with the Hermana AP, love that. Anyways, so we have great plans. And we go to work, talking with our baptism for the week (Raul) and pretty much anyone else that was willing to listen.

Thursday we had a training with the President. It was incredible, we talked about the importance of working with the Spirit and working to be united with your companion. And essentially focusing in on the needs of your investigators. Which sometimes can be difficult to understand. But we practiced a bunch and we´re getting better. To be fair, we still are a bunch of relatively uneducated 19-24 year old kids, but we also have received this calling from God, which means, the people in Argentina can still know the truthfulness of our message. One thing I loved, was we talked about Luke 2:10, which talks about the one angel that went and proclaimed the tidings of great joy to the shepherds at the time of Christ´s birth. And we talked a bit about who wouldn´t want to be that one angel? I mean HELLO!!! Christ was born! He lived! He died for us! And ´He lives again! Well, the angel in Luke didn´t say that, but these are tidings of great joy. And guess what. I´M DOING THAT RIGHT NOW!! muahahaa, I´m so happy. The mission is great. Okay, so pretty much, after this week, I have completely changed my approach to missionary work. But, we´re happy, we know this! As missionaries we are telling every one to be happy, and that they can be happy! How cool is that? Pretty Rockin´ that´s how I feel.

After the training we go to visit two of our investigators, turns out they are not home, so we talk to the third roommate who is home, invite him to be baptized, he accepts. Love that. And then the miracles started coming. Friday, Saturday and Sunday we did divisions, which meant we were able to teach a lot more, and we had a member with us. And, we were talking with everyone. And I mean everyone. Want to hear our numbers for the week? Over 40 lessons and 18 new investigators. The people are ready to hear the message. Or, there are people ready to listen, we just have to find them. It was great.

And then there was Sunday, day of miracles. So, first, we wake up at 5 in the morning (blegh) to make breakfast for the investigators that are going to come to church. Meet up with a stellar member who was willing to do divisions with us, Hermana Sperry and Jessica went to Consejo del Barrio, Ward Counsel (? is that what it is in english) and to look for investigators in one part of our area, and Hermana Gonzalez and I went to go find Raul, who was getting baptized Sunday. Sad story, so we go to visit Raul Saturday, to get him pumped for his interview, we show up, he´s looking super down. But we talk to him about Hope, and having faith in God, and by the time we leave, he´s feeling stellar again. We remind him about his interview (it´s in 3 hours) and leave to go teach other people. We go to the church, wait, and Raul never shows up. We´re nervous because last time we spoke to him he hadn´t found a replacement for work yet, didn´t know what was going on. We called and called and called, but no response. So, we go Sunday, show up at his house. He´s not there. He´s working. We call him, and he´s a little short with us (i.e. me, I was talking on the phone). So we´re talking with Noé who had told us he wanted to go to church, but he´s refusing to go. But we´re at the house, and we know it´s for a reason, so we talk with the son of the other of Raul´s roommates. He´s called Paul. Takes a little bit of effort, but with breakfast as a motivation, he comes to church with us. We´re teaching him the whole way. And during sacrament meeting, he remembers that he´s been to church before. His mom is a member apparently, and he remembers some of the hymns and tells us he wants to bless and pass the sacrament, and wants to serve a mission. What a blessing. So we set a fecha bautismal with him and we´re going to be working with him to get him prepared for this. What a blessing/miracle!

AND THEN ( I love that statement), another thing we talked about in the training thursday was the importance of teaching all the recent converts the lessons of retention. Because they will have references for the people who are prepared to receive the Gospel, Kind of like a recent convert tree (touching the lives of generations to come...it feels like a movie statement o algo). Anyways, so I have wanted to visit this recent convert Delia for a while, but she lives in a mildly dangerous zone (it´s dangerous at night, it´s right by the river). But in the day time, it´s fine, full of tourists and other good things. So, after lunch we go to visit Delia, and the coolest thing, so we were walking towards her house, and I didn´t actually know where I was going (never been in the area before), and Hermana Sperry, stops us and says I think we should go talk to this woman sitting in the chair. Bueno, so we pray, and go to contact this woman. We ask her her name, Delia, Delia? What is your last name? Pared. Delia, we are in this area looking for you. If Hermana Sperry hadn´t had this prompting we would have gotten lost. I love this church. Anyways, we talk with her for a bit, her mom is struggling with Cancer, and they as a family are struggling a bit financially, but she is more then willing to talk with us. Which is great, because she is also inactive. Pucha, so we´re going to help her with that. And the best part, is that there are 11 people that live in her house (her, spouse, children, grandchildren). And with the thoughts of Presidente Gulbrandsen in mind, I know that we are going to see miracles. This whole family, is going to get baptized, and they are going to receive the peace, and tranquility, and absolute joy that comes from living the gospel. Miracles!!

Anyways, so that´s my week. I hope you all are doing well. Know that there are miracles in your life. I hope you have a chance to be an angel to someone. Go out there and let the world know, we can be happy! We have tidings of great joy, and we just need to open our mouth and say it! Oh, another thing, this week, Hermana Gonzalez loves to sing, so we´ve been singing in the Collectivos, to everyone. Which is fun. And you just feel so great. So, go sing a song and have a great day! (Have a great apple and sandwich! Can I have a... No.)

Hermana Reed

Got four minutes to [change] the world

Did I ever tell you guys about how that was like the theme song for one of the guys in our Ragnar team? He listened to it every time he was up for his run. It helped get him pumped up. Four minutes! Okay, well I don´t have four minutes to save the world, but I feel like I´m running on that kind of time limit sometimes. Whew! So much to do and so many people to visit!

But, that´s not important, well, it is, but I know you all want to hear about my new companion! Her name is Hermana Sperry, she´s from Pleasant Grove, Utah, and she is great. Want to know how I met her? Okay, I´ll tell you. First we will start off with the statement that I can´t seem to grab being normal here on the mish. So here´s what happened. As a trainer you get the lovely opportunity to walk in with all the other trainers singing "Called to serve" at the top of your lungs to a bunch of jet lagged tired but enthusiastic new missionaries. So, all us trainers were hiding in the back of the President´s house, waiting for our cue. When President Gulbrandsen walks in and starts out his little pep talk like this "Well, we all new when we came on missions that things would never go as originally planned..." that´s a great way to start out a pep talk right? Ya, I know. he continued "Hermana Reed (looks directly at me) your companion isn´t here yet (hehehe....what?). And Elder Latino (I forgot his name), your companion has a bad infection in his leg, he´s going to the hospital. He doesn´t know it yet. But everyone else, come in with big smiles!" That last part I summarized, the point is my companion wasn´t there. What happened was, Hermana Sperry was on the fast track at the MTC and only spent 2 weeks there because she previously knew spanish (went to Spain study abroad). But, she had problems with her visa so was moved to the Salt Lake City mission to wait it out. Only recently she got her visa and then her plane was delayed due to technical difficulties (their plane also got hit by lightning. How´s that for technical difficulties). Point is, she didn´t come in until 8 at night. Which meant I got to spend the day with Hermana Whitehead and her trainee!! Her name is Hermana Allen, I don´t remember where she´s from, but she´s pretty chill.

So, I´m with Hermana Whitehead, and it starts raining, right? Of course it does, and I don´t have anything prepared because when I left it was a billion degrees out (sounds like Colorado). So, we all get drenched, and then at 10 we receive a call from the AP´s that they are going to come pick me up and take me to my new companion. Yay!! I looked terrible, long day + rain = ew. But the point is, at 11 at night, I finally met my new companion. Whoohoo! And the best part of all of that is that the President told us that si o si we were to get 8 hours of sleep. So we got permission to sleep in. I love that man. Because I was beat.

Anyways, and since then it has been work work work. We´ve been given a challenge to contact more in the street. To Abrir la boca to invite people to hear our message. We´ve been struggling a bit to find investigators. And the best news of all of this is that Hermana Sperry loves talking to people! And I don´t mind talking to people, I just don´t like starting the conversation. So I let her do that, and then we talk. It´s great. I love it, and we´ve like doubled our number of lessons. Now we´re going to work on being more effecient in our lessons. But it is great.

And, one other story, so remember Raul? The security guard? Okay, so he finally got a Sunday free to come to church. Score, so I call up his roommate, who also needed to go to church, heard that Raul was heading out the door. This is great. Raul has a baptismal date for this Sunday (the 30th, happy halloween, no I have not forgotten about it. Love that holiday, I´m going to miss celebrating it). So we head to the church, and it´s like 2 till 9, so I call up Raul (which I could do, side story, Saturday night our phone broke. Wouldn´t read our Sim card so we had to borrow an old phone from our ward missionary leader. He´s so nice) and he says that he´s just barely getting on the Collectivo 314 and will be there in 10 minutes...ish. So, I´m sitting there praying like crazy, that he will get there before the sacrament is passed. I´m praying for long songs, slow songs, lots of announcements, anything to give him time. No announcements, our first hymn is 2 lines long, 3 verses. Pucha. So I´m praying, so hard. And then we start the sacrament hymn, normal song length, and all of the sudden, we start singing it really slow. And I¨m just in my seat going "Thank the heavens! We´re singing it slow!" and then I go back to praying. And right as they are getting ready to bless the bread.....guess who walks in the door. Raul. I´m so happy!! And Hermano Nunez (our ward missionary leader) is at the door, so he mouths to me that Raul is there. I´m so ecstatic. Raul comes in, takes the sacrament. Life is good.

And then I got to get up and give my talk....oh, did I mention that? This week just happened to be the week of missionary work. The Bishop told Hermano Nunez at 2 in the afternoon Saturday that we were in charge of all the speakers. Remember how my phone was broken? Yeah, so luckily we had Correlation that night, and we found out about our assignments to speak at 7 at night. Love that. I will admit, a lot of my talk was by the spirit, having had limited time to plan one out. I did have a sketch though of my talk. I didn´t follow it. Don´t ask me what I said, I don´t remember. THe church is true. Oh, and remember how PResident Gulbrandsen and his wife live in our ward boundries? Yeah, they were there. Love my life. It´s all cool. I think they liked it. They didn´t come up to me afterwards and tell me to go pack my bags I´m going home. So it couldn´t have been that bad.

Anyways, and life moves on. We´re saving the world. One paso at a time. I love you all. Training is going great. So many new experiences to share and do. Things to do better, I get to be better. I love it. I´m glad you are all doing well. Know that you are in my prayers.

Hermana Reed

Pictures!

Finally, huh? Here's a couple pictures of Hermana Reed's district. And just as a side note, I made that t-shirt for her. Love it!

Remember that one time....

....when you thought life was tough and anything would be better then what you were doing? Yeah, don´t ever say those words, in your head or out of your mouth. Because Heavenly Father is always listening, and when he hear´s those words he chuckles and says"just you wait."

Now, of course with this little header you have to be wondering. Oh gee golly wolly, what could Hermana Reed possibly be talking about. Well, today is the day of transfers. I am staying in Vicinte Lopez. And guess who my companion is! You´re never going to guess. Why? Because I don´t know her name. I´ll let you know Tuesday when she flies in from the United States...... Yes, I am going to be training this transfer, and yes, I do know for certain, that she is going to be American. Welcome to the grand mission Buenos Aires Norte. We are a mission built on faith and trust in God, because we are so well aware that we have no idea what we are doing. It´s a good thing the church is true.

Want to know the best part of this though?? I´m with Hermana Whitehead RIGHT NOW! I love this woman, she is crazy, and we´ve had the most ridiculous adventures together. And her life is hilarious, and I´m so glad I get to be a part of it. She was telling me today about how last week she yelled at her companion for eating her banana (the said fruit had been offered to the companion just days before). She was having a rough day. But I love it. And we´re companions for a day because she´s training too! And Elder Mower, I don´t know if you remember much about him, he was an Elder in my district from the CCM. He went from Companero Menor to Trainer. He´s going to be AP in next to no time. He´s such a studly, savvy spiritual missionary. Anyways, so yeah. I´m training. That´s cool.

Want to hear about my last week? Okay, so this week we went to visit Raul and he told us that he had worked it out with one of his work buddies so that he could attend sacrament meeting this Sunday (to come) and the Sunday after. Which gives him 3 assistencias and he can get baptized on the 30th! Whoopah! I literally squealed out loud when he told us that. He was pleasantly embarrassed. You know the drill, when he acts like I´m being ridiculous but really he´s pleased that we´re so stoked for him. Yeah, that one. And it was crazy because that same day we tried to go to a baptism with him but no one would come in to work for him. Pucha. And then he bailed on us going to the despidida yesterday. Less then cool, because we were sitting outside for the better part of an hour waiting for him. That man. But he has the most incredible faith. I´m so blessed to be a part of his baptism.

Oh, and the best part is that we were able to meet the guy he shares a house with. His name is Noé and he´s from Peru (all the cool people are, there and Argentina), he´s been to church, received the charlas, but never actually read the Book of Mormon or prayed about it. At the time, he didn´t have the time to do it. But now he does. He also has a baptismal date for the 30th of October, so he and Raul can be baptized together. Aww, so sweet. So stoked.

Oh, so want to hear about how I knew I was going to be training? Okay, so last transfer Hermana Cariola received a call during our weekly planning session to go to a meeting Friday at the Mission Home. We went, she learned she was going to be training, I learned I was going to be Senior Comp. Remember this story? Yeah. Me too, so everyone and I mean everyone has been telling me I´m going to be training. All the Elders in my district, yeah. so like 3 people. That´s not the point, the point is, I was scared stiff that it actually was going to happen. And I knew that if I could make it through weekly planning without receiving "the phone call" I would be fine. Which meant, everytime the phone rang my palms started sweating like Niagra Falls. I´m pretty sure I could have washed...something in the amount of water. That´s just gross, I´m not going to finish that thought. Point is, usually planning is a quiet process, with maybe one phone call from the Zone leaders to check if we have any miracle baptisms that we´re planning. THIS week? Like 5. I was so scared for all 3ish hours until we received the call from the offices. Which, tricky little devils, they started out with "oh, we have a reference for you" got me all calm, and then whabam! "You´re invited to a meeting tomorrow"....curses. The only thing that made it better was walking into the meeting and seeing Hermana Whitehead there as well...haha, I´m such a bad person for thinking that. But oh well, if I have to do it, she does too. And that´s called justice!

But the really cool thing is that I´ve gotten some additional training to help my new companion. And the focus of the two capacitaciones has been, essentially, that we don´t know anything. And I know I´m going to be thinking about this a lot too, because I only have, what? 8 months total? Something like that, including MTC. I sure don´t feel like I know what I´m doing. And I´ve made enough mistakes to know i don´t know what I´m doing all the time. But that is the great thing about the mission. We´re here, to learn how to completely rely on the Lord, and to realize, that really, we don´t know anything. We think we know, we have examples to help us out. But the only person who knows exactly what would help and knows exactly what to do in every situation? Is the Lord. And when we rely on him and trust his instincts, our lives are going to be better and happier for it. I love the mision. I mean, I knew this before, but it was more like a mathematical theory that I never fully applied. And so I kept getting the wrong answers in my life. I´m going to try it out with more enthusiasm now. I´ll let you know how it goes. But, here I am. Hermana Reed, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, and I will follow his perfect example because I know it is the only way to fulfill my purpose and to live a happy life. True happiness comes through God, because every day is a gift, every breath a loan. And it doesn´t bother me one whit that I need to depend completely and totally upon my Heavenly Father, because I know that his sole purpose in life is to help me be happy. Who can say no to such a loving gesture? "I want you to do this so you can be happy." "uh...don´t think so, I´d rather be miserable." Don´t think so. You´re crazy if you think this. This is the scriptural reference Presidente Gulbrandsen used in training today. Alma 37:37. It talks about counseling with the Lord, in literally all that we are doing. There is not part of our lives in which God does not have an interest. And this is a counsel, not a petition. Which means discussion, pauses, listening, and re-evaluating our plans. During the prayer. I know I need to step up my prayers. I´m going to need it to, because all the sudden I´m the "native" speaker in our companionship. CRAZY!

Anyways, thank you for your prayers, encerio, you all mean so much to me. And your counsel and advice has always been well timed and well received. It means a lot to me that I know I have such great friends and family that love me so much.

Take Luck. Do Good. The Lord is on your side.

Hermana Reed

When is it not a holiday in Argentina?

That really is a valid question. We have ferridas nearly constantly. Well, that´s not actually the word, but it´s close to something like that. THe point is, the people of Argentina like to celebrate, and they don´t have to look very far to find things to celebrate. The bummer to all of this is my reaction to these days are pretty much the same. Preach, Teach, Eat, Pray, Sleep. I love it!

So some fun things that happened this week. This week was the week of birthdays. Hermana Alfaro had her birthday and our district leader Elder Simper. Elder Simper is going home this week so he is very optimistic. He´s been a very good district leader and helped us out a ton, always. I´m grateful for his service. But mostly that meant we had cake at our district meeting. Love cake. But the best part of all of this is that when we were going to our district meeting, we were on the Collectivo and and on this same collectivo there happened to be a highly intoxicated Argentinian. And let me tell you, I have no idea what I do to attract these men, but drunks love talking to me. On my honor, I did not walk up to him, he got up walked over to a seat near me and started talking to me. There were like 10 other people on the bus, including another missionary. I don´t know why he chose me. Nevertheless, start up a conversation with me he did. I ended up teaching him the plan of salvation. More or less, I don´t know how much he remembered. Not the point. THe point is, it was actually kind of fun. And he was very easy to talk to and teach. I don´t know why I have an easier time teaching intoxicated folk, but I do. For me, it´s less nervewracking, and we have a very nice, amiable conversation, flowing back and forth, questions answers, questions answers. And then we were at the church and I had to leave. I left him a pamphlet with the direction to the church.

The point of that story is that I´m getting better at talking to people. Other than that, I just thought it was funny. The other cool thing that happened this week was that I got to see Hermana Decker and Mark! What made it really exciting is that Hermana Alfaro and I were dashing to the church hoping to make it in time for the sacrament because it was a sunday and the collectivos pass by very infrequently on Sundays. So we were speed walking like grandmas to make it in time. And it is very obvious when you walk in late. so we walk in late and the whole congregation turns to see who came in...including Hermana Decker and Mark. That was cool. I did get to talk with them after the meeting, so that was cool. p.s. my mom is pretty much the coolest mom in existence. Thank you for everything you sent mom! I know it took a lot of time to compile all the stuff and find the skirts and hem them and sew the pockets. Hermana Decker told me about how you were sewing like crazy to get everything ready on time. Seriously, thank you so much.

Lastly, I want to share a spiritual thought that one of the members shared with us when we were eating lunch with her this week. So, we showed up late to her house because someone decided to need time to recuperate her feelings (alright, it had been a bad day, I was emotional) so we get to her house and we explain why we were so late and everything. And as we are eating lunch she shares this insight. How deeply have you looked into the significance of the scriptures where Jesus is sleeping in the boat in the middle of the storm while the rest of the diciples are fearing for their lives? Here was the thought - literally Christ is once again being the perfect example for us. When we have complete and utter trust in our Heavenly Father, we can have the peace and tranquility to make it through whatever storm is passing through our lives. When others are fearing and do not know what to do, we can take a nap knowing that God knows what He is doing and is there to protect us. So the questions is, do we have the perfect knowledge that God is our Heavenly Father and is there to protect us?

I thought that was an interesting thought. Because the world is full of storms and trials and our lives are anything but easy, but when we are faced with troubles, how do we react? Surely we have to do things to pass the storm, but do we face the storm with the peace and calm that comes from God? Or do we fear because we do not know what is to come. Something to think about. I loved it.

Then rapido, something for mom. You talked about your studies in Moises a long time ago. And I was thinking about why eating the fruit of the Tree of LIfe would have frustratd the Plan of Salvation. And the more I thought about it the more I wanted to study it. In my studies, this is my conclusion. The reason it would have frustrated the plan of salvation is because it would have meant that Adam and Eve never died. Part of repenting means returning to God. There is that spiritual separation. When Adam and Eve received bodies, they were physically separated from God. To overcome this obstacle we need to die, and then be resurrected with physical, perfect bodies. Because no imperfect thing can dwell in the presence of God, no? Death is a part of the plan of happiness, it allows us to become perfect - literally in this sense because our bodies become physically perfect. God is so smart. I hope to be that intelligent some day. I love the plan of salvation, there is so much hope, and so many opportunities and ways to become closer to and more like God.

And lastly, Read Mosiah 7: 3-4. This is how I feel about my first transfer as a senior comp. And now that it is coming to a close, we will see if I have learned from my mistakes. I will let you know if there are any changes next week, but this transfer is closing this Sunday. CHANGES!!!! Oh, the joy of a new 6 weeks. Being a missionary is awesome.

Love you all,

Hermana Reed

General Conference pretty much rocks!

General Conference is pretty much one of the best weekends of my life, here on the mission. I just love listening to all the people talking and giving great counsel, and telling me that I need to be a better person and knowing that they are absolutely correct in everything.

And, like you, mom, I cannot even begin to think which is my favorite, or which I learned more. I will admit, I absolutely loved Hermana Elaine Dalton´s talk about father´s love their mothers. For two reasons. 1) I have seen time and time again, women of my age and those that are still growing beat themselves up for not being pretty enough, smart enough, cool enough, witty enough. It´s never enough what they have. And they think this because they do not truly understand that they are daughters of God. And in today´s society it is incredibly difficult to develop this identity. But when we truly understand that we are worth every moral, every standard, it is then that we can be truly happy. And we feel beautiful every day. And because we as women think so much about how others view us, the way a father treats his wife is crucial. Because they are the example. The women of today need to know that they have worth and that they will one day have a husband who will treat them like the daughters of God that they are. Which means that the men need to step up to the plate and treat the lady´s like the daughters of God that they are. Do not use and abuse. I will smite you with the word of God if I see you doing it. And don´t test me, I´ve got three Books of Mormon in my bag. 2) My dad has been an amazing example to me of how I should be treated. And while I haven´t always been treated the way my dad treats my mom, my husband will need to talk to my dad and take lessons. Because I love the way my family functions (as dysfunctional as it can be sometimes). And one thing that is never lacking is a stable, pure, Christ like relationship between my mom and my dad. So, way to go Dad. You have been a great example for me. He also treats me very kindly, so thank you for that to. Love you! I love you too Mom!

Well, how´s that for a soap box? Hmm, interesting. Anyways, loved General Conference. It was fun because I went in with about 5 other United State Native Elders to watch the Conference in English. I love America. These Elders are great, but I will admit, we made comments about the ability to stay still of the Primary Chorus. Loved it.

As far as this week in teaching goes. We almost had a baptism this weekend. We have an investigator who has had all the lessons, and just needed a little push to be ready for baptism. Many people feel the need to be 100% sure of everything and know everything before getting baptized, but this just isn´t going to happen. I don´t know everything and I´ve been a member my whole life. So we go over, have her try on the baptismal clothes, she says she feels like an angel, And then accepts the invitation to be baptized this weekend. I´m elated. We call her the next day.......and she wants absolutely nothing to do with the church, she wants us to come over, take our books back, she never wants to talk to us again. You confused? So am I. I have no idea what happened in those 24 hours, but it´s been rough trying to get a hold of her just to ask her what happened and why she changed her mind. I may never know. Whenever we call, she cuts the line. What are you going to do? I don´t know, I´ve been praying a lot though. It´s too bad she didn´t make it to any of the sessions of Conference this weekend. They sure would have helped her feel more prepared.

Other good news is that we were talking to another investigator who just hadn´t caught the fire yet. But when we went to talk to him this week he told us that he had been talking to his Pastor in Peru. He was talking to him about us, and our religion, and how he feels like there is something here, but he´s not really sure what to do. And what advice does this Pastor from Peru give? That it is important to do the will of God. And as long as you are sure it is the will of God, you need to follow it. Now, Raul was telling this story, and he was using flowery language, that was a bit advanced for me and my native spanish speaking companion. So we were just nodding our heads and going "uh huh" for a while. Until he stopped talking and looked at us expectingly like we were supposed to respond. Uh..Wait, what? Oh, you want to be baptized. Okay. You only have friday´s free so you can´t be baptized on the 15th (saturday)? No problem, we can have your baptism on the 14th, it´s a friday. Score. The good news of this story is that he went to the Priesthood session saturday night without us. Yes he has a testimony. Now he just has to work with his boss to get work off Sundays. Pray for him please.

That has mostly been my weekend. General Conference was the absolute highlight. And pretty much took all our day. We have studies until 11, General Conference was from 1-3 and 5-7, it takes an hour to get there. Which means we stayed at the stake center for lunch. Which means for 2 days in a row we had from 11 - 11:30 to visit people and from about 8-9 at night. We didn´t have many lessons in these two days. But I am very spiritually edified. I hope you all are too. I know that President Monson is a prophet of God. And his words are direct counsel to us from our loving Heavenly Father whose soul purpose is to guide us back to him. That is the goal and purpose of this life, and we have the scriptures and living prophets to help us do it.

I love you all, keep on the straight and narrow. You will do great things.

Hermana Reed