Elder Reece - WOW!!!

Dear Family,
I have so much that I want to tell you. I had an AMAZING week. This ward is amazing. I would love to stay here for the rest of my mission.
Amy- Thank you for the letter. I am very grateful for the thoughts and scriptures.
Mom- Thank you also for your letter and the package. I got it on Saturday. Just in time. Could you send me the addresses of all siblings and Grandparents? About the phone call, when would be best to call? I will try to accommodate to your schedule. Best for us would be between 10 and 2, your time. Colorado is two hours behind me, right?
I am sending some pictures. The first is us and Elder Jonathan Escobar. The second is of us making tostones. They are giant bananas smashed and fried twice. They are great. I will make some for you in a year. The third is of the crew this weekend at our Mission Christmas Conference.
Conference was split between two days. Saturday was a luncheon and a few musical numbers. It was really enjoyable. Sunday was a night time Devotional. It was fantastic!! President Hale's next door neighbor from his home in Utah came with his wife to speak to us. Some of you might know of him. His name is Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Sound familiar? Yes, it was President Uchtdorf. I got to shake his hand and then listen to him and his wife speak to us. It was absolutely amazing. The Sprirt was so strong there. I will remember it for the rest of my life. It was a special, sacred experience.
I learned so very much. I am still trying to record all I felt and learned last night. A lot of it was very applicable to me as a msisionary and I feel confident that I will be able to apply what I learned throughout my life. I am so blessed. It is amazing.
My appreciation for and testimony of the Gospel was strengthened last night. Like I have said before, this Gospel is so profound. I had the amazing privilege to shake the hand of a prophet of God. But what's neat is that it was simply a hand. He is a man just like the rest of us. He talked to us about that. He is an ordinary man with an extraordinary responsability. Our leaders are great men. They are truly called of God and are His representatives. But the power behind them is not theirs. It is God's. They are not called to be Prophets because they are powerful and extraordinary in and of themselves. They are still amazing men, don't get me wrong, but they are normal men powered by God. Because they are ordinary men, the knowledge that they are Prophets of God comes through the Spirit, not through impressing the natural man. It is an amazing thing that I learned last night. Even though I am an ordinary human with weaknesses, I can do great things because I have the power of God and He is with me.
This Church astounds me. God is so perfect. I am learning and growing every day. I am sad I am almost half way done, but I am excited to move forward and continue learning. I have a lot of learning to do over the next year. I love you all so much. As I was sitting there yesterday I was thinking about how much of a privilege it is to have President Uchtdorf visit me for Christmas. But a better present still would have been spending the Holidays with all of you. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I love you so much. I miss you all. How I wish I could be with you during this wonderful time to celebrate Christ's birth! But I am not because it is not God's will. And I am 100% okay with that. I am loving what I am doing. I know that this is where I am supposed to be.
Be happy and be strong. Remember that because of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we have more reason than anyone to celebrate and glory the birth of the Author of our Salvation. He is our way to the Father and He has given us again on the earth the fulness of the Gospel. The living of which gives us access to all of God's blessing for us, now and in the eternities. I am so excited to be there with all of you.
Con muchisimo amor,
Elder Reece
P.S.- Talk to you soon ;-D

Sister Reece - Stinky feet and breakdowns!

Yes, I have acquired a bad case of stinky feet. I am not really sure
why now when I never have before, but oh well. If you know any
fantastic cures, send them my way! And yes, I had my first breakdown
this week- and it was in class. My companionship decided to speak ONLY
Chinese that day so I was already stressed out. Then in class I had to
teach my teacher and overview of our message and I just lost it. I
couldn't even think of what to say in English, let alone Chinese. It
was rough but after a good cry in the bathroom I was all better. :D

This week we had an awesome lesson with our investigators. One of
them, Liu Tia Tia (pronounced Leo Tie Tie) felt for the first time
that there is a God, let alone that she has a loving heavenly father.
It was amazing! I was so blessed to be able to be in the room with the
spirit so strong. I am going to have some really hard times teaching
people about God when they have absolutely no concept of Him but it
will be so rewarding when they finally realize and believe in Him. I
am scared and excited all at the same time.

I am in the never ending process of learning to love and appreciate my
companions. I go up and down everyday from being crazy annoyed, to
crazy grateful for them. I am learning so much from them though, I
love it. I have realized how blessed I am to have grown up in the
family that I did. While we have had our challenges I know that they
love me we have a great relationship. I am learning how different of a
life I have had then so many other people.

Oh- funny moment of the week. We were playing volleyball in gym
earlier this week when my companion got tagged right in the face! Poor
Sis. Bray was already afraid of the ball and plays more to laugh then
to actually hit the ball. So her worst fear fame true when she got it
right in the face. It got both sides of the court rolling on the floor
laughing! I just adore her! I am loving gym time! I love having a set
time to run and workout. And yes, I have been running almost everyday
and it feels great! I also have been lifting about everyday- and yes,
I am the only sister that does any sort of lifting. I feel kinda like
a dork when all the other machines are being used by the elders. oh
well!

One of my fave parts about the MTC is being able to watch Music & The
Spoken Word each Sunday. The choir and orchestra are so amazing and it
is such a treat to watch! They have been singing a ton of Christmas
songs that I am pretty sure the RVHS choir is singing too. This week
they sang "How Far Is It To Bethlehem?" and a fantastic Carribean
Christmas Carol called "The Virgin Mary Had A Baby Boy". You should
try youtubing them or watching the whole program. They were beautiful!
I think Hagerman would love to sing that Carribean song. I saw in my
mind all the little choir kids going to town with it!

Thank you SO much for the package you sent this week mom! I am super
excited to go open my first envelope tonight! I have no idea what is
inside and I love it! Yay for suprises! The flip-flops and robe are
working perfectly! Oh, and I am sending some pics off in the mail here
in a little bit. There are a collection of random ones, but I hope you
enjoy! And the Chocolates are to die for! Thank you thank you thank
you! Even the wrapping is fantastic!

Grandpa and grandma- Merry Christmas! I love you and hope you are doing well!

Well, I had a huge long list of things written up to write about this
week and I think I actually had time to write it all. Yay! I want to
leave you with my testimony that I know I am being prepared to do a
great work in Taiwan. The Chinese people are such a special and
amazing people that are just yearning to know of God. I am so grateful
that I can be in the MTC right now and in this pilot district. I am
having such a different experience than almost everyone else in the
MTC. It is designed so well to help us learn to teach by the Spirit.
It is truly inspired.

I love you all so much! I hope your Christmas preparations are going
well! I love you!

Sister Amy Reece

Elder Reece - El tiempo vuela- once meses hoy

Querida familia,
You are all so wonderful. I love hearing from you every week. Mom, thank you for the email and the package. It got here a few days ago. I am excited to take some time to read Dad's Patriarchal Blessing. Thank you for sending me it. It is really long! Also, on that Birthday spreadsheet, am I mistaken or is Julie's Birthday on there wrong. I thought it was June 19th not the 13th. Correct me if I'm wrong. Amy, it sounds like you are doing great. I had the same experience with P-days. But they are really anything but relaxing. There is a ton to do. I took a picture of Elder Escobar to send to you but I left my camera at home. Sorry. Maybe next week.
This week has been really good. I wish I could tell you everything. I have some bad news, though. Remember last week I talked about Julio and Fabiana German? Well we did go over on Wednesday and we had a pretty good lesson. But yesterday when we passed by real quick to invite them to the Christmas Devotional, e told me that he had read the entire Book of Mormon, prayed about it, and only felt empty inside. He told us it wasn't for him and that we shouldn't come back for our appointment on Wednesday. He said that we are still great friends and brothers but that he would keep on looking for what God has for him somewhere else. It made me so sad. I know that he is looking for the Restored Gospel. He just doesn't know it. But I will keep checking up on him every once in a while.
There is another great family that we are going to start working with. This eight year old girl, Cassandra, has been coming to Church with her Grandparents. She got baptized this last Friday. Her inactive Mom asked us to go over Thursday night to explain to her daughter Baptism and make sure that she understood how serious a thing it is. Cassandra's dad, Jimmy, was also there. He is not a member. It was a great experience. Carolina, the mom, told us about how she has messed up in her life and didn't get married in the temple like she wanted to and how she doesn't want the same for her daughter. I told her I wanted to help her still reach her goal of a temple marriage and asked if she would let us start passing by regularly to elp her family get there. She said yes! She came with her family to the Devotional last night. And we should be going by this Thursday or Friday to talk more with them and let them know what is going to need to happen. I am so excited for them. I hope and pray that the Lord will allow me to stay here long enough to help them. I know I won't see everything because it will take some time. But I really want to help them. They are such a great family. Please keep them in your prayers. There is Jimmy(dad), Carolina(mom), Cassandra(8yr-old daughter), and Anthony(6yr-old son).
David, both you and Amy mentioned something that has been bothering me. Amy mentioned how she is learning more about following the Spirit and you bore you testimony that the Holy Ghost is the most important part of the work. I absolutely know that that is true. But I am having trouble puttiong it into practice. My Bishop right now, Bishop Ayaviri , is a great man and served a wonderful mission. He has recently said a few times that missionaries learn a very special language on their missions- the language of the Spirit. This morning I read a talk by President Eyring from last Conference's Priesthood Session called "Serving with the Spirit". Do you have any advice? I know there is no quick fix, silver bullet but any thoughts would really help. Would you say that you learned the language of the Spirit on your mission? In what way? Are there any experiences that come to mind that might give me a better understanding? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. That goes for everyone, actually. The Spirit should be a daily part of everyone's life, missionaries and members alike. Anything you have learned in your experiences?
Sean, a week or so ago Amy asked you for your conversion story. If it's not too much of an inconvenience, could you send me a copy too? Thank you so much. You're great. I'm so glad you chose to embrace the Gospel and our family. Or at least our sister ;-D
Well times up for this week. Like always I hope you are all doing well. I miss you all so much but I am loving my time here. I will talk to you in a few weeks. Speaking of which. Mom, do you just want me to use your calling card again? And should I just call your cellphone? Let me know what time I should call. Remember the time differences.
Love you all, Elder Reece

Sister Reece - Hey, Hey, Hey

Family! It was so great to get so many emails and letters this week,
thank you so much!! Keep me updated on things at home- I miss not being
right in the hustle and bustle of things. But I am loving it here and wouldn't
trade it! :D

Well, this week was packed full of fabulous things. On Tuesday night
we had Sister Beck and her husband come speak to us on catching the
vision of missionary work and the correct way to measure success.
Which, by the way, is by our commitment to the Lord. It helped put
all my work into perspective. One of my companions is excelling in
Mandarin and remembers almost every word she hears. It has been hard
watching her do so well when I still struggle a little bit. But Sis
Beck reminded me that I can't compare myself to her, or anyone else, I
can only compare myself to the best I can be. She also reminded us
that the Lord has gone before us to prepare those that are ready to
accept the gospel. If we are doing what is right and trying our
hardest He will always be there helping us. Kevin, that isn't anything
profound, but maybe it can help. Remember that the Lord isn't going to
leave you alone to do His work. Be obedient and do all you can to be
worthy of His Spirit, and he will help you. If i have learned anything
these last three weeks, it is that this is His work, not mine.
Reminding myself of that every once in awhile helps me to put things
back into perspective.

There is tons more that I want to share with you about the week, but
time is ticking away. It is really stressful to try and type all I
need to when there is a red clock ticking-down my time in the corner
of the screen. Its so much pressure! :D

I love you all and thank you for all your love and support!