The Last Letter - It's a Good One

You know what amazes me here on the mission?!  I have learned so much though experiences here.  The other day we were walking down the road and some guy drove real close with his motorcycle and smacked me on the neck!  I shook it off and kept walking... as I was walking, rubbing my red hot neck, I thought about some of the things I have gone though on my mission.  I have been spit on... I have been ridiculed, I have been hit with stones and garbage, I’ve had harsh words thrown at me left and right all day, I’ve had people blindly reject me as they see us at the door, I’ve had a lot of things happen to me on the mission, and I’ve turned the other cheek.  Some say I’m too nice, some say I’m weak, some say I should get even and retaliate.  People say I’m a lot of things... But in the end I still hold true and remember my sacred calling.  I represent the Christ and do everything He says.  Why retaliate or lose my temper when He suffered MORE THAN I?!?

Elder Reay

Next time I talk to you, it’ll be face to face. :)

 Sandra Ponte!  :)  With her sisters.  One, baptized a month ago, the other is getting married so she can ge baptized!  :)  HEE-HAW!!!

 

 

 This is our zone meeting.  Great presentation :)

Yoli, she is getting baptized on the 15th.  She is SO AWESOME!!!!! She is the one that Dad was talking about.  haha.  Funny that she is also my LAST baptism!  She is so prepared!  She has had contact with other missionaries, but never had any luck.  We showed up and contacted her house and she accepted everything from the beginning!  We talked about baptism and she only had a few problems, such as her family not supporting her but she took care of those problems and is going STRONG NOW!!!! :)

Last Couple of Weeks

What a wonderful week!  My family is such a missionary family!  Jacqueline is so well loved and I’m sure that God has a great plan for her and it will be brought to pass by YOU GUYS!  :)  Thank you for helping the ward so much.  I am seeing blessings every week thanks to your dedication.  This week we had a lot of help from the members and I think it is because you all have been such great members there!  The Mosquez family invited three of our investigators and one recent convert over to their house last Sunday for a Family Home Evening.  They LOVED IT!  Sister Mosquez is such a missionary, her husband is our ward mission leader, her son is a returned missionary (Three months ago) and her other son is fifteen, who helped watch the Kids while the adults had a spiritual and enjoyable time in the living room. :)  I am so thankful for the help of the members here in La Costa.  Our ward is so powerful, it is quite amazing.  Yesterday was a HORRIBLY rainy day yet we still had members pass by all our investigators with their cars and they ALL came!  :)  Can’t wait for Sandra´s baptism this Wednesday and Yoli´s next Saturday.  :) :) :)  We have been doing about three intercambio´s per week and it is wearing me out, but I am staying much focused as I am getting down to the niddy-griddy. :)  Thanks for all the support you have given me.  Your emails are uplifting and inspirational. Know that I am working hard, there is no down time. :)  I love you all so much!

Elder Reay

First Family to make it to the temple in my whole mission. :) the Lamela family.  Elder Torres (My current comp) and elder Ochoa (His old comp) baptized the Lamela family a month and a half ago and they were sealed this Thursday in the temple.  One of the most informative and spiritually uplifting experiences yet on my mission.  The Patriarch talked a lot about the sealing power as well as the endowment session. I am so thankful that I was born under the Covenant.  THAT IS SUCH A BLESSING!!!

Trip to the temple.

The one in the red skirt is our recent convert.  She went with us to get to know the temple.

From 24 Months left to just 24 Days Left

Things are winding down but moving EVER SO MUCH FASTER as far as the missionary work.  I am really trying to help out the zone.  I only have a few more weeks to boost them up and get things prepared for the end of the year.  It is proving to be pretty difficult but not impossible.  I love the challenge and thankfully this is God’s work and not mine, because I am pretty darn weak.  Ha-ha.  God has blessed us in so many ways and I am thankful for that.  Keep Sandra, Natalia, Matias, and Yoli in your prayers, they are all working towards baptism and we just have to keep solid contact with them and they will all make it to their baptismal date.  Not much time to write today, we went to the beach as a zone and played ultimate Frisbee and we are late.  It was really nice to get out and run for a while, the funny thing is that I am going to be getting home in winter there but I am getting a KILLER summer tan here. Ha-ha. The classic Missionary tan, big white neck and brown arms.

Talk to you next week!  Sorry this week was so short.

Love,
Elder Reay

10-14-14

I’m so proud to know that you and mom are such great missionaries!  Seriously, I don’t know if I just didn’t see it before I left, or if you guys just started fight after leaving. ;)  There is a special feeling that I get when I think about you, mom, and the family sharing the gospel in your own way back home.  Things here on the mission are going great and I am super busy here in my new area, I have 24 missionaries in our zone and they are all GREAT!!!  I have two other guys that are from my group, one of which (Elder Adney) is living with me, and the other (Elder Plautz) is one of the three district leaders that we are in charge of. :)  Elder Adney is a great guy and I am super excited to do some interchanges with him so that I can help him achieve even more of his potential.  He is training right now, and learning himself as he is going along.  Elder Torres and I are pretty excited to get our baptismal goal for this month; we have a great family that we are teaching, the Ponte family.  They are three sisters that all live in the same plot of land... they all built their own wood plank houses with their boy friends and have been living there for years.  Each one of them has two kids younger than Braden and their living conditions are quite poor... (Yesterday I asked to use the bathroom and they handed me a roll of TP and sent me to the boonies... ha-ha.) So we have offered our help in building their new homes, made of cement bricks.  Elder Torres and I went Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon to help them with some construction, but little did I know that NOBODY had any idea what they were doing, so with my limited knowledge that I picked up from 18 de mayo, I was able to teach them how to get the cement beam placed and set for the support.  We scorched our skin and my comp broke many cinder blocks but we made progress and it will soon be a livable home with indoor plumbing. ;)  These Saturday we are going with some members and should be able to get quite a bit done, at least work until she runs out of materials.  Wish us luck. :)

Love you!"
Elder Reay

10-7-14

Well, the time has arrived; I am going to my LAST AREA!  I have been called to work in "El Bosque" area, in the "La costa" zone for the last 6 weeks of my 2 year mission.  President has asked that I accept the position of Zone Leader as companion of Elder Torres (Another Elder Torres... not the Oro that I am with right now.)  :)  I couldn't be more excited!!!!!

This week I was impressed deeply by Neil Anderson’s talk on Testimonies... It brought me back to a trip up to Flagstaff with my mother.  She and I were the only ones in the car and my mother decided to challenge me in finding my OWN testimony of Joseph Smith.  I had a whole week at "EFY" and made it a goal to find out for myself if Joseph Smith really was a prophet and if He really did translate the Book of Mormon by the power and authority of God.  I remember driving back to Cottonwood after that week of spiritual highs and explaining to my mother the feelings that had overcome me as I studied, pondered and prayed to know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  It is because of this experience that I am able to look into a complete strangers eyes and tell him, "I know that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God and that he was called to restore the true church of Jesus Christ in these last days." and KNOW FOR MYSELF THAT I AM NOT LYING.  I am able to testify and promise people that God directs His church today through living Prophets.  Thank you for that opportunity.

It was quite awesome to watch general conference in English and then when the Spanish speakers stood up, to walk into the Chapel and listen to their voice.  I understand everything now and it truly manifests to me every time that we are part of the True Church of Jesus Christ because we have Living Prophets and we are (I am) blessed with the Gift of Tongues.  When the elder began telling stories about Minas, I was filled with joy knowing that we shared the same experiences; I never knew the lady in his story but knew many personal stories that are very similar.

I love this Gospel and can't believe that God has blessed me enough to be born in the Covenant... As I continue to grow and learn more throughout my life, I appreciate that blessing more and more intensely.  God has foreordained me to be a Missionary of the Church and I thank Him every day for that blessing.  

I would like to share with you a story that happened just last week here in Florida:  Hermano Da Luz is a convert of just over a year.  He and his family were baptized together and they have since, received callings, done baptisms for the dead, and accompanied the missionaries in MANY opportunities.  He was married to his wife in order to get baptized and live the Law of Chastity. Just last week, we had the privilege of calling Elder Bastidas (the elder that baptized the Da Luz family) to inform him that Hermano Da Luz would be entering the temple Thursday afternoon to receive his Endowments.  Elder Bastidas was thrilled with the news and I felt the happiness that comes from knowing that I did my part in teaching Hermano Da Luz sufficiently so as to be worthy and prepared to enter the Holy House of the Lord.  Our ward left in a short bus Thursday morning and would not return until about midnight of the same day... My companion and I continued our work in our area as usual with great plans and great lessons.  At about 4 PM, a strong storm hit our little town, knocking over trees, ripping off tin roofs, and destroying everything within our little town.  The storm was so bad that the ceramic shingles on the Church's roof were cracked from the hail and some had been torn off by the strong winds.  Thankfully, my companion and I were safely inside an investigator’s home when the storm hit, we were blessed to be protected under their tin roof that some how withstood the strong winds and we were able to wait out the storm that lasted for over 2 hours.  When the storm finally ended and I had assured the well-being of my district members, my companion and I left the security of our investigator’s home and met up with the Zone Leaders to continue our Missionary Work.  That day we had a baptismal interview scheduled so we did divisions with the soaking wet Zone Leaders as my companion left with Elder Saavedra to the other area while I stayed in  my area with elder Mitchell to perform the baptismal interview of one of our investigators.  The interview went fine and we finished at about 8:30 PM, as we left our investigators house, I was reminded of Hermano Da Luz´s feeble home, made of scrap wood and old tin sheets held down by cinder blocks and a few strands of twine.  Elder Mitchell and I decided to swing by his home before retiring to our house that evening.  As we walked towards his small home, I began to think about the incredible damage the storm must have done to his home... I knew that they were all in Montevideo (About 2 hours away) and that they were not home to secure their belongings.  As we drew near to his home, we saw the many similar homes in his neighborhood destroyed and mangled by the effects of the storm.  We helped an old lady lift up a tin sheet of metal and place it loosely back on her 6 foot roof, so that she would be able to be somewhat protected from the drizzling rain for the rest of the night.  When we Finally reached the Da Luz´s shack, I was surprised with a screen that I couldn't have ever imagined... His 10 foot by 10 foot house stood in the same spot, with debris and mud thrown around his beat up yard, there was a RIVER flowing through the dirt road that passed only 3 feet from his house; and yet... His cinder blocks still rested in the same place as they had been three hours earlier, the twine seemed to have gained strength as I observed each one and found it unharmed.  I looked into the plastic window and saw his home in the normal, unorganized manner that it has been in each of our many visits to his home.  I was utterly surprised at the untouched state of his home and couldn't believe my eyes.  We left contempt at the protection that their home had received and we returned home.  The following morning, my companion and I went by the Da Luz family’s home to ask him how his experience went in the temple and as we sat in his humble home, he expressed to us the powerful testimony he had gained during those 24 hours.  He said that as he sat in the Initiatory room, he could hear the storm begin and by the time he had reached the Celestial Room, he calmly prayed to his loving Heavenly Father in humble prayer to watch  over his home as he knew that this storm would soon reach his home back in Florida.  He felt assurance that it would be so and continued happily throughout the rest of the trip.  As they returned home, they witnessed the devastating effects of the storm as their short bus "Put-Putted" back to their home town.  The fallen down trees on the freeway made it impossible to travel at the true speed limit and they ended up getting home at around 2 AM Friday morning.  He, his wife, and his two young children walked from the church to their home two blocks away, dodging the low hanging branches and weaving their way through the debris of their destroyed neighborhood to Finlay reach their untouched home.  Hermano Da Luz testified to my companion and I about the importance of Prayer and Faith.  He taught me what it meant to TRUST IN GOD and KNOW that He will answer the prayer of the Faithful when they are "gone about on their Father’s business."

I know that I am on the Lord’s errand and I am thankful for the opportunities that He has given me.  I hope you can understand the story that I tried to depict for you. :)

Love you all!

Elder Reay

09-01-14

Sister Angelina told me that she emailed you and she loved it!! Ha-ha. :)  Sure was nice to hear some comforting words from my MOTHER Sunday afternoon. :) Ha-ha.  He little boy is so darn cute and it kills me not to be able to hold him and play with him... ha-ha, struggled with that my whole mission!  (Feel like a sister missionary sometimes! ha-ha, they always want to hold little babies) Things are going well here in Florida; we are looking TIRELESSLY for people to teach!  We have four main investigators but each one of them has a HUGE problem that is stopping them from progressing... so we are working on each one of them while looking for new people at the same time. Elder Torres is excited and ready to baptize!  Poor guy still hasn't had his first baptism and he wants it so bad!  :)  Can’t blame him, especially seeing that we have four GREAT investigators that WANT to be baptized but CAN’T due to their current decisions.  So we are searching and searching :)  

I am amazed at how driven my family is in the Missionary work!!  I was thinking a lot about the missionary work back home last week because Brother Anderson emailed me and told me that the Spanish branch back home only had 12 people in church the other day and he told me a little about the branch president.  Can’t wait to help out the Mountain View Ward, Spanish Branch, and the Singles ward in Flag :) ha-ha.  Things are going to be awesome!  The things that I am learning in the mission are crazy... Crazy to think about living a life without these lessons learned.  Last week I read McKay´s letters and the only thing I wanted to do was get on a plane, and go to the MTC in Utah, to start another mission!  I relished in his stories and the experiences he is having.  I emailed him but look like he doesn’t have enough time or there are rules against writing.  I truly love the mission and can’t decide which I would choose if given the chance... Go home in November, or Start a new mission... ha-ha. :)  (Mom, I know your answer! hahaha)

Thanks for all the love and stories you show me, Thanks for helping niña get baptized!! You guys ROCK!!!

Love,

Elder Reay

08-18-14

 MACARENA IS GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!  :) 

 This is our ZONE!

 Singing the Army of Helaman

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MACARENA IS GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!  :) Ha-ha, she and Sebastian are going to get married on the 19th of September!  We are planning their baptism now, :)  Our hope is that they can get married on the 19th and baptized together on Sunday!  Hopefully things go well for Sebastian, he has two big barriers, he is smoking, and he works on a farm... milking cows, so he is almost never free on Sundays.  We are hoping that he can make it to church a few more times in order to make it to their goal of baptism.  We are so thankful for the opportunity we have had to be a part of this with them.  Thursday we were in our house studying language when the phone rang. It was an unknown number so I answered it with a lively, "Hola! buenas tardes, somos los misioneros!" and on the other end I heard an overly excited Macarena!  She told me she was at the Court House and that if we could get there in 10 minutes, we could sign as witnesses to her wedding and she could pick a date for her wedding. :) Man that was MUSIC TO MY EARS!  She has already come 3 Sundays in a row and is learning VERY quickly.  She doesn’t smoke or drink and already has the goal to get married in the temple!  Ha-ha. :)  We are very excited for her!  Keep Sebastian in your prayers, he wants to stop smoking, but it looks like it will be hard for him to make it to the church.  He has yet to come to a sacrament meeting, so we need some divine help to make things happen. :)  

I’m pretty excited for the Anderson s to get here!  President says that couple missionaries are only in the MTC for 5 days, so he guesses that they will be getting here right before I leave! Hopefully in time to go through the temple with me the day before I leave! :)  President and I were talking about them and he wants to know if either of them have medical knowledge, I told him I’d ask you guys today.  And did Brother Anderson serve a mission? Was it Spanish speaking?  :)  I’d love to get an email from Vicki Jo!  Ha-ha.

Things are going great with my comp and I! He is a champ and came pre trained.  We have great lessons and he is really driven by the spirit!  I love working with him!

Chelsea told me how things are going for her in Flag and sounds like she is being pretty blessed if you ask me. :)  Having the time of her life and living it up!  Hope JJ is doing ok... sure she is taking a "Sucker Punch" to this transition.   Keep your hearts full of love because our family can’t be separated by any matter of miles! :)

Love you all so much!

Elder Reay

08-11-14

 Baptimal interviews in San Ramon.

Popcorn poping in Florida!

 Blooper. jaja.  Te amo  mama, espero que tengas un buen dia hoy.  Sé que va a ser muy dificil para ti mañana!  Tienes que ayudar a mi hermanita mudarse! jaja.  Gracias por todo lo que haces para  mi.  realmente te amo con todo!

Tu hijo,

Elder Reay

Burger king... after more than two years. haha. :)  A pday treat

 

I have emailed hermana White for the last few weeks, she baptized this brother two years ago and  i am helping them get back in touch. :) Pretty fun. :)

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This week went really well!  We have seen many miracles!  The most touching was the sister Suarez that made it to church yesterday!  She is 80 years old and was one of the first members to be baptized here in Florida.  We visited her after receiving the prompting to do so on Friday.  We showed up to her house with a friend of the family that is a member and when Sister Suarez´s daughter opened the door (Also a less active member) she asked, "Oh, hello, what are you guys doing here?"  And the brother that was accompanying us replied, "The missionaries asked me who we should visit and I told them that I wanted to come and see YOU and you mother... I told them that it has been a long time since I’ve seen you in church and wanted to visit you to see how you have been" and with that said, we were in the door. :)  They haven’t gone to church in about a year or a year and a half now due to one reason or another and lately it has been just the cold mornings.  As the lesson unfolded, my comp and I shared some great scriptures and then began to ask some inspired questions... Let me tell you.  I have gained such a testimony on Inspired questioning... it is amazing to hear the answers that come from our investigators and less actives.  Cloudia (The daughter of sister suarez) answered a few of our questions and then broke down in tears as she began to realize how powerful her OWN testimony was about church attendance and as she began to realize that that testimony was being waited by the years of excuses.  She cried as she thanked us and Brother Rodriguez for thinking of her and her mother and for our surprise visit.  :)  They both came to church yesterday and it was absolutely beautiful.  One of the most amazing things about the lesson was that as I listened to Sister Suarez´s conversion story and all the stories she has acquired over the years, I sat in awe as I saw the image of Sister Suarez melt into what seemed to be a childhood memory of my Grandma Reay.  She seems to have the same face, the same manner of speech and it was amazing to feel that closeness to my Grandma.  As I listened to her, I could remember one visit we made to Grandma Reay’s apartment (Or old folks home... not sure) and I remember Uncle Joe showing up as well and I remember the grandfather clock with the little mouse sitting on the counter weight.  

We have some great investigators coming to church!  Macarena has all the paperwork for the wedding and we will be finishing up everything this week hopefully.  Axel and his mother are now taking the lessons and WOW they are just blown away by the spirit.  We got to know Axel first and invited him to be baptized, for the 30th (Hopefully there will be a baptism over there in Arizona the same day!) and then got to know the mother yesterday.  She has accepted baptism for the same day and we are so super excited!!!

Love you all!

Elder Reay

08-04-14

This is me right after verifying with the sisters in San ramon by cell phone and right before verifying with the zone leaders that live with us.

This is the shirt I got in my last area "Rocha" has all our names on the back.

Yeah... i know i was trying to flex... and haha, you can see it´s been hard to do work outs here. haha. :)  But the main focus of the photo is the shirt!  haha.  Elder Chumpitaz, our zone leader in Rocha designed shirts before the  mission, so he designed it for us and we had a members son in my area that could print them off. :)  Ended  up turning out great!

 

This is our house, in the left corner (See my comp?) and that is the church... ten steps away. :)

 

 

Letter:
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Wow... to be honest, it’s been a while since one of your letters has brought me to tears... but that one hit me right square in the heart!  :)  I stand amazed at how wonderful my family is in the gospel... there is absolutely NOTHING that is more valuable to me.  Thank you so much for being so worthy of the Holy Ghost and for following his promptings.  I am totally reading that to my comp.  I love hearing about your spiritual experiences so much!!! It has been a great week here in Uruguay.  WE HAVE MIRACLES ON THE WAY!!!! Keep Macarena and Sebastian in your prayers!  :)  Macarena is going to be the first baptism for my comp and the first baptism in this area for the both of us.  She is progressing so beautifully!  Yesterday we had one of the most beautiful lessons with her.  We invited our ward mission leader and his future wife to join us in the lesson.  Our WML is a returned missionary and the lesson was FILED by the spirit!  Promises and blessings pouring out from my mouth as well as my companions, coupled with powerful testimonies of Richard and Noelia.  Macarena has been investigating the church for years now but hasn’t ever been baptized because she has been living with her boyfriend.  She wants to be baptized so badly and she is now on track to achieve it!  She has two young boys, one age 7 and one age 3.  Yesterday’s charla ended with strong invitations and goal setting so that she understands the next steps.  She seemed a little worried that things wouldn’t go as smoothly as we promised, but trusted us and decided to talk to Sebastian last night... he has never shown desires to get married.  We were praying for her all last night and all this morning.  We started the day as usual with leadership meetings and p-day.  When we happened to find Sebastian in the busy part of town!  We stopped and talked to him for a bit, and he BLEW us a way when he said that they had recently come out of the Government building with ALL the paperwork necessary to get married!!!  Macarena was around the corner and we talked to them both as we congratulated them and made sure everything was good for the charla tomorrow and our Family Home Evening.  Wednesday they should be "Taking out a date" for marriage and we are so STOKED!!! :)

Love you all!!

Elder Reay

7-28-14

What a treat to sit down and read all the wonderful things that are going on with my family!!! I love it so stinking much!!! :)  I loved every bit of the farewells!  Can’t wait to see Logan 2.0 and Braden 2.0 ;) ha-ha.  Not too far off.  I had forgotten that Logan Kitch went Spanish speaking!  That will be nice.  Ha-ha. There are lots of differences between the Spanish here and there, so we will get some good laughs.  The name Logan is actually popular here in my area.  :)  I have two little babies in my Branch named Logan... man... I miss playing with babies. Ha-ha. They love me and I sure do love them!!  

We had some amazing experiences this week.  And it has been interesting to talk with my comp about them because I have realized just how accustomed I have become to the missionary life and the miracles that happen EVERYDAY!  We had a lady the other day named Silvia Rios that we met by accident.  We went to a house we had scheduled at 3 o’clock for a young man that we had met a few days earlier and he wasn’t home, instead, Silvia came out and was quite surprised to see us both standing there at her door.  She told us that the young man wasn’t home and she started to walk back inside... Elder Torres and I started up a conversation with her before she cut off the contact.  She listed for a little wile and then I started asking simple questions to get to know her... when I did, she opened up to some of her most intimate feelings!!! She started to cry as she told us about the problems she has had in her life, with her husband beating her and leaving her, her desires to overdose, and all sorts of things.  It was a normal contact for ME!!!! I have had some of the same circumstances before and knew how to react, I helped her realize she needed help and helped her find the answers to her own questions and we began to teach the Plan of Salvation.  After the contact was over and we had set up a return time, Elder Torres asked me, "Is that normal??"  I didn’t know what he was talking about and so he expounded, "Do people normally just open up their deepest darkest wounds to us even though we are complete strangers??"  ... it made me think and realize just how amazing it is that we are in such a unique position!  What a wonderful calling that we have as missionaries and as members!!! :)

I thought a lot about Chelsea this week when we went to lunch with a man named Hermes Rodriguez.  He lives in an old folk’s home and that is where we went for lunch.  It was quite interesting. :) Ha-ha.  Seeing the life they life and seeing the way the care takers have to take care of them.  It made me think a lot about Chelsea and all the experiences she has had helping the elderly.  A special bond that Chelsea has with them. :)

Hey, could you do me a favor?  I want to share a quote from Kong-fu panda that goes something like this, "The past is over, the future is uncontrollable, but the present is our decision... that’s why it is called the present."  (Could be far off, but it was a play on words with Present) could you look it up??  I want to share it with the district.

Love you all!!! :)

Elder Reay

07-21-14

 This is me and elder Torres (My Oro)

Me with the elders in my house. :) Elder Pin and elder Mitchel

 

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Wow!  I love this change!!! haha. :)  Things are going great here in my new area, elder Torres and I are SUPER excited!   He is an oro and has absolutely NO fear of sharing the Gospel.  It is so nice because I was just kind of drowning in my last area with so many difficulties of missionaries that did {t seem to WANT to be on a mission.  I showed up here in Florida and found myself in what I pictured as the Perfect mission.  We are all determined to be exactly obedient and work as absolutely hard as possible!  Ha-ha.  Elder Torres is from Ecuador and he is so ready to work.  He is a convert of 7 years and is the only member of his family.  He has a rock solid testimony and a great knowledge of the scriptures.  He has enough strength to leave on the mission even though his family is NOT supportive, he prepared for his mission by confiding in his bishop.  I am super excited to work with him. :)  Training is going well; I am teaching a lot myself to be honest. :)  Ha-ha. I am living with one of the elders that lived with me in the CCM, elder Mitchel.  He has one change more than I do, left the ccm when I had three weeks.  I am loving it here and love my area, Asamblea is full of converts and great SOLID members.  Florida is the second District I have been in, out of the TWO that are within our mission boundaries.  We are trying with everything we have to make Florida a Stake and get the progress we need.  I will tell you more about the converts and investigators next week when I can get to know them better.  I have thoroughly enjoyed these past few days seeing that Elder mitchel served in one of my areas and elder Pin served in two of my areas (Including my area de oro.) and we have all be telling stories all day about what was happening when we were serving there.  I love reliving missionary stories!!! It is amazing.  I imagine that is what it will be like when our mission gets back together for a mission reunion or when I get back together with one of my comps or someone from my group.  :)  I love this work and I love the Branch I am in.  Thank you all for your love and support.

Will fill you in more next week.

Love and hugs!!! Besos! jaja, como un buen uruguayo... ellos saludan con el beso!!! jaja

Elder Reay

07-15-14

Elder Brown and I on our hike to Sergio´s house.

Sergio´s house.

Made it to the ranch, Monica (Member) came with us to "Rescue" Sergio, our less active Ward Mission Leader that lives 14km out of town.

Peek-a-boo!  :) We see YOU! :)

 

These are the elders I have lived with.  Elder COrdova is packing up to go back to Peru... he has finished his time as a full-time missionary.

This is the church i have been attending for 4 months.  :)  In the corner of Lavalleja and Ramirez. :) haha.  Looks really big, but it is quite small inside.

Well, changes have come and gone once again... I am being transferred to a new area!!! And the best news is... I WILL BE TRAINING A NEW MISSIONARY!!! I couldn’t be more excited!  I have to catch a bus tomorrow morning at three thirty to get to carrasco.  I still don’t know who my oro will be but will find out tomorrow!!! :) Ha-ha.  We are going to be assigned to an area called Asamblea, Florida.  Ha-ha.  We will be doing a "White-Wash" where we are going to have to figure out the area by ourselves... normally when one gets transferred, the other comp stays to help the person that goes in... But I know nothing about Florida and my new comp hardly knows anything about the mission!!! Ha-ha so it is called a white-wash.  I am super excited.

It sure is hard to leave this ward though.... Rocha is one of the areas that have given me lots of love and I have learned so much here.  I hope to visit here before heading home... I am going to try and plan it out so that elder Parker and I can go to Las Piedras and then here to Rocha to visit our converts before they ship us off in November. :)  

I enjoyed the walk we took to Sergio´s farm way out yander.  He has gone inactive this last change because it is always really hard for him to see missionaries leave... he gets really attached to us because he is working so closely with us.  He is our Ward Mission Leader and always (used to always) accompany us to charlas.  We decided that we wanted to show him our love for him and surprise him, so we planed a day with Monica and walked the long 7 km there and surprised the heck out of him!!! Ha-ha.  When we finally got to his ranch, he was in the barn milking the cows and he could see us walking up his muddy road... he second guessed himself numerous times before finally calling us to see if it really was US walking up his road.  He told us not to continue because his dad was home and he is SUPER anti-mrmon.  I really didn´care... even though I probably should have. Ha-ha. :)  So we walked right up to his fence and waved him out of the barn. :)  Sergio came running out of the barn in his poop covered sweater and sweats, with the BIGGEST SMILE on his face... I have NEVER seen him so happy.  He felt our love and explained to us that it was IMPOSSIBLE to accept us into the house because if his father saw us, he’d likely pull out the gun. Ha-ha. JK.  So we told him why we had walked all the way out there and then told him to meet up with us when he finished with his daily chores.  We walked the 7 km back into town and back to Monica´s house, there we had a charla with Sergio after a little wait.  He still didn’t make it to church on sudsy but that was because he didn’t have any means of transportation.  ;)  We are blessed to have such great members in this Branch.

We also had a great baptism in the District this week.  His name is Fabricio.  He is ten years old and his father who is a less active, has not allowed him to be baptized for two  years.  The missionaries in his area continued to work on the father for these two years and this week, his father signed the baptismal papers!!!!  Fabricio was so stinking happy!!! It is amazing.  Wish I could tell you more. :)

Love,

Elder Reay

Off to Asamblea Florida!!!! vamos arriba!!!