Cockroaches, Temple and the Emergency Room

Hello!

 

Sorry that it has been so long since I wrote. Well, since everyone has little Reece to talk about my letter probably was not missed much- but if anyone is curious we didn't right on Monday because we went to the temple this morning. I love the temple! I actually chose to do a session in Chinese so that I could be with my companion. It was so cool! My second adventure was that I went to the emergency room on Saturday night. It's a long story but I am fine and just left with some pain medication for my sore back. Apparently I am not riding my bike correctly and have caused some pain in my lower back. But all is well! :D Oh, and the exterminator had to come this morning to take care of our COCKROACH investestation. It's so gross! and they fly!!!

 

As for call's home- I have decided that I don't want to Skype, I just want to call. Can you call me on my Monday morning? That would be the best for me. I will find out what my phone number is and get it to you next week. I think it's just easiest to have you call me instead of my trying to figure it all out. Let me know next week if that will work. I am looking forward to the packages! Thank you!

 

This was a fabulous week! The Lord blessed us with some awesome new investigators. I am learning more each day the importance of doing through, guided-by-the-Spirit planning each night so that the Lord can work with our plans to work miracles. One such miracle happened while we were waiting for an investigator outside of a shopping mall. While standing there we started making converstaion with a lady selling clothes outside of the store. Through talking with her we were able to find out that she is a widow of 10 years and willing to let us visit her. Right there we were able to teach her prayer and we are making plans to go back and continue sharing the gospel with her. I love looking back on the day and seeing all of the little miracles that the Lord blessed us with that day.

 

These next couple of weeks we are going to be working hard to help a Miao Jiemei get baptized this month. It's going to take a lot of good planning as she is very busy and is still waiting for her answer that God exists. But we have the faith that both of these two issues can be overcome with diligence and prayer- both on our part and her's. She is doing really great at reading and praying daily but doesn't feel that her prayers are being answered. Basically she isn't recognizing the promptings the Spirit is giving her. So this week are trying to use the list from PMG Chapter 4 on the different ways the Holy Ghost communicates with us to help her recognize her answers. I haven't actually been able to sit down with her a lot since I have moved her, but I love her already! While we're striving hard to have a baptism this month I am trying to focus on baptizing and enduring soul, not just a number. Please pray for us!

 

Okay, I am out! The picture is me and Sister Wang in front of the temple this morning. I love you all! Be safe and CPR!!

Sister Amy Reece

Sister Wang and Sister Reece in front of Temple

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me falta un mes; 12.Dec.2011

Dear Family,

     Mom- Thank you for so many pictures. I love seeing little Reece. I am printing some out to show to people.

     This week was pretty good. Yesterday we had four people at Church. One of them was Reina. She is still so ready to get baptized but her "husband" still isn't cooperating. It's sad because she is starting to lose hope with him. But she is still doing great. We gave her the Book of Mormon on CD and now she is 'reading' from the Book of Mormon a lot more consistently. I can't remember if I told you, but she and her family are in a tight financial situation right now. And a few weeks ago she was offered a job at a restaurant for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. But she is so wonderful. She didn't take the job so that she could continue to come to Church on Sunday. Because she has a large family and she loves them so much. She wants so badly to see her whole family together in Church with her. But until that happens she is still faithful and comes every week with her two little daughters, Maryori and Emily. I was telling Reina about you, Mom, and she is excited to meet you when we come back to visit.

      On of the other people that we had at Church yesterday was Maritza. I've told you about her right? She is a wonderful lady that I have an absolute blast teaching. She is so stressful, but I love it. She has been investigating for over 2 months now and has come to Church 6 times. She loves the member; she loves the Doctrine; she loves the Book of Mormon. Each time we go visit her she starts reading us a part of the Book of Mormon that she liked that she read in the last few days. It is really fun to have your investigators start reading you scriptures and explaining why they like them:-D She is also a great missionary. She goes around telling everyone about the Restored Gospel. Saturday night after our lesson she walked us over to one of her neighbors, Book of Mormon in hand, and introduced us to him. We then walked back to her trailer with him and right when we sat down she started reading him parts of the Book of Mormon that had helped her and that she thought would hep him. It was a really neat experience. The only thing that has been keeping her form getting baptized is that she has a boyfriend and we haven't been sure if she is worthy to be baptized. But yesterday the Bishop interviewed her and afterwards told us that she is okay. So we are planning on getting her baptized this weekend. You'll enjoy meeting her as well.

      Then the last two people that were at Church yesterday were Ana Hernandez and her daughter Sonya. This was the second time that they have been to Church. They came last week also and love it both times. Ana is so amazing. She always tells us how grateful she is for us. She loves that her daughter loves the Church. She worries a lot about her. Ana also loves the Book of Mormon and is always so amazed at how much the Book of Mormon and Bible teach the same things. a lot of people, including her boyfriend, have told her not to listen to us because we are gong to confuse her. But every time we teach her she tells us that far from confusing her we are helping her to learn. Ana wants to get baptized but can't because her boyfriend doesn't want to marry her right now.

      But her 12 year old daughter, Sonya, does want to get baptized and doesn't have anything holding her back. So she will be getting baptized this weekend. We are really excited about her. We see her pretty much every day. She is excited. we will be teaching her tonight.

     Mom- About Christmas, President gave us permission to Skype for 30 to 35 minutes this year. So I will try to find a member that will let us use their computer. You said to call you after 12 but what time is that here in Florida. Are you still going to be in Virginia with Kim and Sean or are you going to be back in Arizona? Day Light Savings threw me off. How many hours ahead of Arizona am I? I think I will be calling at about 4 or 5 my time. Will that work? I will probably call you first like I did for Mother's Day and then we can figure out the Skype thing.Sound good?

      Well I need to be going. My time is running away from me and I need to go catch it. I hope that you are all keeping up on our CPR. Those three things are the "small and simple things" that bring about great changes in our lives. I know that to be true. That is how we come closer to our Savior.

      I love you all so much. Have a great week!

                    Con amor,

                                        Elder Kevin Reece 

 

PS- I am sending a picture of President Anderson and I and one of Elder White and I. I took them at Interviews with President on Saturday. Also Mom, have you found Christmas Crunch this year?

Feliz Dia de Pavo; 21.Nov.2011

Dear Family,

      Is any one else astounded at the fact that it is already Thanksgiving again? Excuse the obviousness of this comment, but last Thanksgiving was a whole year ago! It's crazy how fast it's gone.

       As always, this week had its goods and its bads. The most depressing news is that out of the four people that were supposed to be baptized yesterday, none of them actually were. Something happened with each of the families. Omar and Guadalupe didn't get their marriage licence in time and Joshua and Vanessita's mom called us on Thursday and said that she didn't want them to be baptized this weekend, which is really weird because they have all three felt the Spirit very strongly as they have come to Church, read the Book of Mormon, prayed, and met with us. We're not quite sure why she keeps postponing baptism. But tomorrow we are going to go over with the Stake President to meet with them. I hope he can help them get baptized. The good news about the four baptisms that didn't happen is that the people are still willing to work toward baptism.

       The highlights of this week were two experiences that we had yesterday.

       The first was early in the morning. Since the start of November, our Mission Leaders have started what we call the "Round-Up". It involves us "rounding-up" our investigators and getting them to Church. Part of this program is going out Sunday morning and doing everything that we can to get people to Church, whether its calls, texts, stop-bys, etc. So one of the families that we are working a lot with is the Ordonez family. It is a huge complicated mess, but basically they are all members, the niece and nephew were baptized since I have been here, the two mothers and their brother and sister are inactives that haven't been to Church in years, but that have testimonies about the Church; they are just obviously not that strong. We have had a huge challenge getting them to Church so for the last three Sunday we have been going to their house on Sunday morning to make sure they are coming to Church. The last two weeks, no one answered. This week one of the sisters(the one that has the daughter that got baptized 4 months ago) opened the door and let us in. She was on her way to work(we're trying to get her to quit). But her daughter and brother and sister were all still asleep in the one room they all share. So Elder Weese and I woke them up. At first we knocked on their door, then we went in and started talking to them, then we started pulling off their covers. After about ten minutes, they all got up and started getting ready for Church. It was a fun experience. I think it's a great idea to go visit people on Sunday morning to get them to Church. But I would not suggest going into their rooms and waking them up unless you have a really good relationship with them. Luckily we do have that kind of relationship with the Ordonez family. The worst part about the story is that none of them ended up coming to Church. We were super bummed, but that's okay. We did our part; and we will keep doing our part until they come to Church every week. I love that family so much! They are so great!

       The Round-Up is fun. I actually plan on doing it when I get home. Coming to Church is so important that we need to do all that we can before Church to make that people are coming, during Church to make sure they enjoy the experience, and after Church to make sure that anyone that didn't come this Sunday comes next Sunday. I am with Amy on this 100%.

        Actually, yesterday Omar and Guadalupe didn't come to Church so we stopped by last night to tell them we missed them. I was so happy to hear that members from the Ward had called both of them to tell them they were missed. They felt so loved and said that next week they will be there for sure. That is a perfect example of the power of members. Please do all you can to help people get to Church and enjoy the experience, whether they are active members, less-active members, or investigators. Trust me. It is worth it.

        The other amazing experience we had was last night. About 4 months ago we met a lady named Ana Hernandez that wanted a blessing in her home, but we could never leave it with her because her husband was never home. We kept trying every few weeks or so and finally last night we stopped by and there was a man home so we were able to enter and leave the blessing with her and her teenage daughter. As Elder Weese gave the blessing, the idea came to my mind to share with her some pictures that I have of the Plan of Salvation. So after the blessing, we asked her how she felt and she said that she felt the Spirit, so I asked if I could show her something. She said yes and we went to her kitchen table and I laid out the Plan of Salvation in about 2 minutes, also mentioning the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how it has been restored through a modern prophet. When I finished she said that she felt that what we had shared with her was true. So we invited her to be baptized. When we extended the commitment she said that she couldn't because she was living in sin. She is not married to the man she is living with and she knows that until she marries him she won't be worthy of baptism. But she said she wants to change and that after she gets married she wants to be baptized. As she was talking about marrying the man she is living with, she mentioned that she doesn't even put very much importance on a civil marriage because she knows that those don't last. This was a perfect opportunity for us to pull out a card of the South Florida Temple and teach and testify of the sealing power that has been restored to the earth through Joseph Smith. She told us that she didn't know it was possible to be married for eternity but that she would love that. The Spirit was very strong while we were there. It was the experience of a life-time. It was neat to see how the Lord led us to share those things that she needed to hear. We left her a Restoration pamphlet and we will be teaching her and her boyfriend tomorrow. I am excited to see the Spirit continue to work in her. I hope the best for her progress in the restored Gospel. I hope we can get her married and baptized soon. By the way, I don't know if I have said this lately, but I love being a missionary! It is a great! I'm excited to apply at home what I have learned out here.

        Well time's up. Got to go. I love you all so much. I am so very grateful for each and every one of you. You are all special to me. I look forward to seeing you all in a few months.

        Remember to do CPR! ;-D

        With love and gratitude,

                                               Elder Kevin Reece

 

PS- Here are the pictures I wanted to send you last week. The first one is at my apartment last Friday night. The explanation for the bag is that a member gave us food in it a few weeks ago and they decided to use it to give me my presents. The second picture is last Sunday at the house of the family that we always eat lunch with. The missionary next to me is Elder Flores. He lives with us. He is from Honduras. 

 

 

今天很冷! (Cold Today!)

Hello my dearest family and friends!

 

The place that we use computers at is really loud and busy and I am very distracted so I am not sure how this email will actually turn out. It could be kinda scattered- bear with me. :D

 

First of all- we had 5 investigators at church yesterday! Liao Yu Ting came for the third week in a row- she is the high school senior that we contacted a couple of weeks ago and has been coming to church ever since. She is so great, but unfortunately progressing slowly toward baptism. Lin Dai Ni also came and we love her! She was referred to us from the Taipei temple a couple of months ago and has been progressing so well. She is so in tune with the Spirit! She keeps commitments and reads the scriptures so well. Unfortunately yesterday was the first day she was able to come to church and she didn't have a very great experience. We are going to keep praying and working hard with her though. The other three people that came were Cheng Shu Xian and her two boys. The boys were super rowdy but I think they all had a good experience. They have been meeting with the missionaries for over a year and we're hoping that one day soon they will finally take the steps to be baptized. Please pray for this mom- she really needs the gospel in their home but will not make the necessary sacrifices. It was so great to see so many investigators there. We have really struggled to get people to church here in Nantou but we hope we will continue to see the Lord's blessings.

 

I mentioned that Dai Ni didn't have a very good experience yesterday. I actually am not sure of Yu Ting and Cheng Jeimei did either. We are really struggling to help the ward really welcome our investigators into part of their family. Please, please love and really bring the investigators in your ward into your circle of friends. The hardest part of being a missionary is seeing amazing, prepared people struggle in the ward. President Hinckley said, "There is absolutely no point in doing missionary work if we do not hold on to the fruit of our labors." Please hold on to them! It breaks my hard to look at the huge ward list with hundreds of names on it and then go to church were we see 60-80 people each week. Every person that takes the step of faith to meet with the missionaries or come to church needs to be welcomed and supported in the fragile journey to the celestial kingdom. We all need it. On Sunday look around and see who isn't there that was there last week, then after church go find them and help them come to church next week. You'll see miracles. I promise.

 

Okay, that is my sermon for today. I really do know that this is Christ's true church here on the earth. And it isn't easy to be a member of this full, restored gospel. We all struggle and we all need support. You might not be struggling now, but someone is. I have learned the amazing power that daily scripture study has in the lives of all that are willing to take the time to do it. So do it! Make it a part of your life and love it! Sorry, I guess I wasn't done with my sermon. This week I have been thinking a lot about where I have come and what I have done on my mission and where I still have to go and still have to become. These are a couple of the thoughts I have been having that I hope to be able to really implement into my life in that very distant day when I head home.

 

I think that I have taken up enough of your time for today. Know that I love you and that I think you are all amazing! Please be safe. Especially those of you who will be traveling and giving birth to my little niece. :D

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Not being in America I forgot that It was time for Thanksgiving already. I just wanted to tell you all how much I am grateful for you and your love and support. I know that I truly could not be here if I didn't know that I have people praying for me daily. I am also grateful for the love of the Savior in my life. His love includes so many things and reaches to the very corners of my life. It is His love that carries me through each day and it is His love that I am striving to help others feel in their lives. I could go on and on about all that I am grateful for, but I have already taken enough of your time today. Again, be safe and I love you all!

I love you!

Sister Amy Reece

Sorry, time is short today. No fun message in Chinese.

Family!

Wow. This week was pretty crazy. And actually, it was a lot like Kevin's week last week. As I was reading his email I felt like I was reading my journal from yesterday. I too have spent a lot of time on my knees recently. I also am very grateful for the counsel and the guidance that I have received through personal revelation and also through my leaders. Kevin, from the experiences you shared and the insights you have found in the scriptures I can tell that you are doing an amazing job as a Zone Leader. Your zone is very lucky to have you leading and guiding them. One of my zone leaders is going home in a couple weeks- how would you feel about transfering here to beautiful Nantou? Who knows, maybe there is a personal or two on the whole island that would understand Spanish. :D I love you!

Besides my poor companion putting up with yet another of my mid-mission crisis' (is that even the plural for crisis?), this week was again filled with a lot of learning. I am trying to work with my companion, our leaders, and the Lord to figure out the best way to do missionary work here in our little corner of Taiwan. Conference gave me some amazing insights on how I can improve and use this time the Lord has given me even better.

As always, I am really bad at remembering who it was that actually said what at General Conference, but I do remember somethings that were said- or rather that I heard :D. One thing that I really loved was the suggestion to memorize scriptures to be able to recall at times of temptation, sorrow and any other time their needed. I am really looking forward to working hard again to memorize scriptures in both English and Chinese as there are many times throughout each day that I need a way to draw myself back to the work that I am doing. I also really liked the talk on using our time wisely. He said that we all have the same number of minutes in each day, how much we get done all depends on what we choose to do. This was particularly pertinant to me as a servant of the Lord when more than any other time in my life my time is not mine but is the Lord's. I really want to be able to say that I have done as it says in my call letter and decoted all of my time and attention to the Lord. Unfortunately I have not been perfect at that up until this point, but fortunately I too am able to apply the Gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end- see PMG chapter 3, lesson 3) in my life that I am teaching others about each day.

I wish that I had as many inspiring words as Kevin does, but unfortunately you will have to put up with what I have. Today I have attached a couple of pictures. One is from our zone activity today. We started by going to the park and playing of very sweaty game of ultimate frisbee with a football. That was an adventure when the other team had a college pitcher. Ya, he can through really far and really fast. We then went to lunch at an all you can eat steakhouse. Yum! There is also a picture of a beautiful Taiwanese sunset. And then the picture of the keyboard mom requested. In Chinese the have a second "phonetic alphabet" thing that they use when teaching children the characters or typing them into the computer. It is an intense process that I will have to explain one day.

Love you all more than... well today my just my love will have to do. :D

Sister Amy Reece

Mire Arriba; 3.Oct.2011

Dear Wonderful Family,

I, like all of you, loved General Conference. Unfortunately it wasn't as great as I wanted it to be because we only had two investigators there. We had over 8 promise they would be there. That is one of the most disappointing parts of being a missionary. But what do you do?

First of all, I wanted to correct Amy. I still have 2 Transfers left and another 2 weeks of this Transfer. But you are right; it is pretty scary. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. These last two and a half Transfers have gone by very fast. And that's all I have left on my Mission. That is a sadness that can only be understood by those who have gone through this. I hate that I only have a little over three months left, but I try to use that to motivate me every day. There is still plenty more I will do and learn before I finish.

Well the main thing that I wanted to tell you about today was how I have already been able to apply divine guidance from General Conference. I have two stories to illustrate this, one is serious and the other not so much so.

One of the talks that I liked was from Elder Cooks. He said,"It's better to look up." This is great counsel. When trials come our way, instead of hanging our heads or saying, "woe is me", we need to kneel down and 'look up'. I have experienced this many times on my mission. I had another experience with this yesterday. Just in case any of you don't know or haven't figured out, being a full-time missionary is hard. There are always things to do and things to do better. It is very easy to feel overwhelmed, discouraged, and inadequate. This is possibly the biggest trial I have had to face on my Mission. Well last night was another recurrence of those same feelings. This week our Zone didn't do very good. And neither did we, as Zone Leaders. Last night we had a phone call with the Assistants to the President and they reaffirmed what I already knew: that we needed to do better. It is very frustrating to be told you need to do better when you feel like you are doing your best. So last night, amid these feelings of discouragement and despair, I knelt down for my nightly prayer and started to discuss the matter with God. Let me tell you what, everything is better when we start praying. The problems don't leave but we receive the strength that we need. Because of my heartfelt prayer, last night and this morning I have received guidance and comfort from the Spirit and from my wonderful companion. My testimony has grown that when we feel overwhelmed, we need to look up and pray to God. He will help us, always. Now I have a list of things that I am going to change and improve so that this area and this Zone can increase our performance.

My second experience is less testimony building. I think I have told you that for over 8 weeks I have been getting lots of bites all over my body. The mission medical coordinator has suspected it is bed bugs but we haven't been able to find any. Over the last three weeks they have come over three times to clean and spray but the bites keep coming back. It has been very frustrating. We couldn't find the problem. TO find the solution we were checking under our beds and in the floorboards. We were 'looking down'. Well We received the counsel on Saturday that when faced with trials we should' look up'. So we followed that counsel and yesterday morning in stead of 'hanging or heads' and ' looking down' to find these bugs we finally 'looked up' and there it was, the solution to our problem. When we looked up we found over 30 bed bugs and even more eggs in the corner between the wall and the ceiling right above our beds. It was gross. I don't know how we have missed them for this whole time, but we finally found them. Needlesstosay, they are coming back today to kill them now that we have found them. Moral of the story: always follow prophetic counsel ;-D

Well not much else to say. Actually, I will also share with you all two other things that I have learned this week form my studies. The first is about the connection between faith and works. I can't remember if I shared this with you last week. I don't think so. If so, bare with me. I learned this week from James chapter 2 that it is through works that faith is made perfect. Now maybe some of you don't realize how important this is but believe me. There are a host of Christians in the world that believe that works don't save us, only faith in Christ is necessary for salvation. There are also many other people that think that it doesn't matter what church you belong too because as long as they talk about Christ they are good churchs because the only important thing is to believe in Christ. I hope you all know that this is false doctrine. Faith by itself is not enough for salvation and it does matter what church you belong to because Christ taught that "Not everyone that saith 'Lord, Lord' will enter into the kingdom of my Father. But he that does the will of my Father which is in Heaven." (Matt 7:21). Study it out. Works, doctrines, and ordinances are necessary for salvation.

The other thing I learned is that we need to be a lot better about reading the Book of Mormon. How many of you have read the October Ensign that is a special edition all about the Book of Mormon? It is great. I would especially recommend you all at least read one of President Ezra Taft Benson's best talks ever, "The Book of Mormon: Keystone of our Religion". It is amazing. One of the things that I learned from it is that we need to put special attention to reading the Book of Mormon because it was written for our day. The Nefites and Lamanites never had The Book of Mormon. It was compiled by the second to last prophet before all the righteous people were killed. The Book was written for us. In Mormon chapter 8 Moroni talks to us and says that Jesus has shown us to him. That is pretty awesome. I loved the talk Sunday Morning about the Book of Mormon. I hope you all know how important that book is. It is vital for our salvation. In a meeting with six other missionaries this last Wednesday, we decided that reading the Book of Mormon and receiving a testimony that it is true is the most important thing that any of us can do in this life. All the other important things in life are either results of or made important by that testimony. I hope we are all studying carefully from the Book of Mormon so that we may receive the guidance God wants to give us and fell the great Spirit of God that is in that book. I know that it is a divine work. Do you?

Well it's time for me to stop preaching. I love you all. Like always, I hope all is well with you. Please take care of yourselves, physically and spiritually.

With love,

Elder Kevin Reece

PS- Mom, I plan on working at home from the time I come home to when I get back to College in the fall. Could you start looking around town and talking to people to see what kind of jobs will be available for me when I get home? Thank you so much.

Also, the two pictures are me outside my Chapel. It is so pretty. You will love it.

我很愛你們!!

Hey family,

So I like Kevin's idea of putting in a phrase for the week in the heading. Unfortunately it takes me a long time to write my teeny subject cause it is like rocket since trying to get the ridiculous Chinese characters on the computer. I love it though! Mom, do you remember when we went to the visitor's center at the Mesa Temple before Sara Jane's wedding and we were looking at the Chinese Book of Mormon and it looked so scary? Well I am now to the point where I can read most what it says. I wouldn't be able to pick up the newspaper or a novel and understand it, but most of the Scriptures and church books I am able to at least understand the meaning. It is really weird! I was told when I was set apart that my learning the Chinese language would be miraculous- and it has been. I really questioned that promise a lot in the MTC, but I have seen it come to reality over the last year. (And yes, I am one month out from hitting my year mark. Ridiculous, huh? Oh and Kevin, remember how you only have one transfer left? Crazy!!!!)

I am so happy to hear that everyone is healthy and loving life! David, I don't really know a lot about osteoporklasjdflkjalkfg is but I am proud to say that my brother is saving the world, one aged person at a time! :D Kim, those headbands are ADORABLE! Don't make too many though- I want to be able to spoil my little niece with pretty things too and you already have almost 15 months on me. I am so excited to finally have a little mini-you to spoil!

It sounds like missionary work really isn't any different on this side of the world than it is on your side. It's kinda of comforting to know that the missionaries in the states are struggling with the same things we are here. Well, "we" is a very broad term. Most of the time I feel like I am the only missionary struggling to find new investigators, talk to everyone and really help people have an enduring converstion. But Kevin, I am guessing you feel the same way too, ya? 加油! Kevin, has your mission given you missionaries copies of Preach My Gospel "The District 1" and "The District 2" to watch? Last move-call our mission gave every apartment a mini dvd player and copies of those DVDs to watch during personal and companionship study. They're so amazing and are changing my mission! I love watching how those missionaries apply the principles of Preach My Gospel in their work. If you don't have them or don't even know what they are you should ask your Mission President- they're SO great! (I even bought myself copies to bring home with me :D). Actually, I am sure you have seen them from DTM's, but do you get to watch them regularly?

Speaking of those DVDs changing my mission- we watched a little clip on "Finding New Investigators" this morning in companionship study because this last week we struggled to find any new investigators. That was one of the low points of the week. We felt like we were doing a lot, but again, didn't see amazing results. Last night I had a mini break-down which was really great! It resulted in a lot of time on my knees and me becoming more humble. I love being a missionary! But thanks to the scriptures, prayer, my companion, Preach My Gospel, those DVD's and most of all The Lord, I am ready to go out and make this a great week! We are going to see miracles!

This week we had an amazing Zone Conference on "covenants". Do you all understand the importance of the covenants and ordinances that you have made with the Lord. Heaven knows I still have a lot to learn, but I am grateful for my amazing Mission President who helped me better understand not only the covenants I have made, but also the covenants I am here helping others to make. They're so essential to everyone's salvation. Did you know that the words "covenant" and "testament" are interchangable? That put a whole new meaning to "The Book of Mormon-- Another Testament of Jesus Christ". Ponder on that for a minute. :D

I am so excited for General Conference this weekend! I am making little flyer things to take to all of our investigators and members that we are working with. It's going to be so great. Since we just watch it off a DVD that Salt Lake sends we are just watching four hours straight through on Saturday and then four hours straight through on Sunday. Yay! Thanks for the little sneak preview mom!

I love you more than all of the characters in the Chinese language!

Loves!

Sister Amy Reece

p.s. mom- that other Sister with the curly blonde hair is Sister Pomeroy and I absolutely love her and her hair. I hope you can meet her one day. Well, really I hope you can meet all of the amazing missionaries that I get to work with one day. I love them!

p.p.s Kevin I think EFY would be a breeze for you after your mission. Okay, maybe not a breeze but it would be so fun! I hope you'll do it with me and that we get hired for the same sessions. Well, I guess I should start by hoping I get hired at all. :D

Tu Hermosa Hijo/Hermano; 26.Sept.2011

Dear Family,

Wow. Where has time gone? Next week is already October. That's nuts.

Well it was great to hear from all of you. Kim, It's still kinda hard to imagine you pregnant. I'm excited to see you as a mom.I'm sure you'll be great!!(You too Sean:-) Mom, your Spanish was very good. I will try to send you a word of the week in the subject of each email and see if you can translate it. Amy, EFY would be fun. I dont' know if I would enjoy it. It seems like a lot of responsibility. But then again, I have been a missionary for over 20 months and I am pretty used to teaching people. It would probably be fun, especially if you, Julie, and I could all be counselors in the same sessions. Sure Mom, let us know what you find. Que piensas tu, Julie?

So this week, like every week, had its ups and downs and adventures. One down is that we didn't teach very many lessons this week. It is always depressing to think you worked hard and then look back at a day or week and see that you really didn't do as much as you wanted to. But, like always, we are discussing it between the two of us and trying to determine what we can improve on to help us have more success and help more people.

A few ups are that Reina, Rene, and Carmen Tejada came to Church yesterday!! I was very happy. Vanessa called me yesterday afternoon to tell me that she wasn't able to go to Church because she didn't feel well. She got a new job two weeks ago and she says that it has been tiring her out too much. But luckily she got a new job this week. I just hope they give her Sunday off. Church was interesting this week. We only had Sacrament Meeting because the power was out in the building. There was only a little light from the windows an doors and fro a few small lights that ran off a battery. So Sacrament Meeting was very dark and quiet and uncomfortably warm. But it was okay.

Carmen is actually progressing well. She is the one that I vented about last week that says that she's already baptized. Well Last Monday we had an awesome FHE with the first counsellor in the Bishopric about authority, Christ's organization, the Apostasy, and the Restoration. What's neat is that he was able to teach it all out of the Bible. Did you all know that the message of the Restoration is found in the Bible? This is no new message. And I think she finally got it!! She came to Church yesterday again and is reading in the Book of Mormon because she wants to know that it is true. She is progressing well and I am confident that if she continues to do what she is doing she will receive an answer and be prepared for her baptism on the 9th of October. I am excited to see it all unfold with her.

Reina and Rene are also still looking good for their baptism the 9th of October. We had an amazing lesson with them on Tuesday. Rene prayed for the first time in his life!! It was amazing. He is progressing well. I hope and pray that he is ready by the 9th of October. We just need to get them married on the 8th. Please pray for them if you can.

Well I can't think of too much else to say. One really neat thing that I learned this week comes from 3 Nephi 27. By the way, if you don't know off the top of your head what this chapter talks about, study it11 It is great. It basically gives the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Church in a nutshell. I love it. Anyway, one of the great, well known verses from this chapter is verse 27 where Christ says," What manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am." This verse is so important. It teaches us that Christ wants us to become like him, something that a lot of church's don't fully understand, if they even believe it. But what I learned this week is what is learned by connecting that verse to verse 13 of the same chapter. In verse 13 you could say that Christ is giving His purpose statement for His life, and even His whole existence. He basically says,"I came into the world to do the will of the Father. That is why He sent me here." Connecting verse 27 to verse 13 teaches us what our life's purpose statement should be:"I came here to do my Father's will. That's why he sent me here." It is the same for all of us. We are here on earth to learn to do Gods will. And just like Matthew 7 teaches us, the only way to enter into our Father in Heaven's kingdom is by doing the will of the Father. That is why Christ came; That is why the Church was restored through Joseph Smith; That is why Amy and I are out here: To help people know God's will and invite them to do and be it.

I love the Gospel. I love my Mission. I have learned so much being out here. What a great blessing it has been.

I love you all as well. I hope you all continue striving to seek and do God's will in all that you do. Have a great week. And enjoy General Conference. Invite a friend!!!

Con amor,

Elder Kevin Reece

PS- First picture is me and Elder Lamb. He thinks he's real cool:-D The second picture is me and Elder Weese.

Pretend this says something really cool in Chinese!

Hey!

So I couldn't get the computer to cooperate with me this week to write something cool in the "subject line". Oh well. Mom, I am not sure what it was that you sent- whatever it was it was not Mandarin Standard Characters. Maybe it was simplified ba. But I understood what you were trying to say. :D

Well this was a really great week. Like Kevin, I had a lot of up and downs. This week was really interesting because it felt like we were being really productive, but when the "test" rolls around (Sunday- church) we didn't score very high. we had a lot of lessons this week not only with investigators but also with recent converts and less-active members. And most of our lessons with investigators had a member present. But on Sunday we had no investigators at Church, only 3 of our 14 recent converts came, and none of the less-actives that we have been working with. It's really disappointing to be working hard but not be immediately gratified with results. I think one thing that I have really learned as a missionary is that A) the Lord has His own time and B)people have their agency. Those are both extremely important things that are hard to remember sometimes. So there is the down side of the week. But the upside of the week comes when stepping back and looking at the little miracles.

Like- a Sister that has been meeting with the missionaries for ages is really progressing in her reading and praying. Another girl, a 18-year-old girl is really reading the scriptures and asking us really good questions. She couldn't come to church yesterday but called and asked if we could meet with her tonight. That is a miracle because she has only been able to meet with us on Saturdays because of school. We're really excited to teach her about the plan of salvation tonight. Another great miracle from the week was being able to meet with a less-active sister and having the Relief Society President go with us. The Relief Society President was able to understand the sisters situation better and the less-active sister was able to feel the love of the ward.

So while the week had disappointing times- it also had great times. As a missionary our highs and lows are VERY much different than the rest of the world, but there is still take-away for the rest of you out there: look for the good and the miracles everyday! If we want the bad and the awful, we'll find it. But that won't help anything. Look for miracles and make miracles happen! Okay, that is my motivational speach for the week! :D

Hey mom- or anyone else that has time- can you look into EFY next summer for me? I am thinking that, if possible, that would be an awesome summer job for when I get home. Is it even possible for me to do it? Can I do the application while on my mission still? What about interviews? If you could find out some information I would be extremely grateful! You can probably find it online, or by just calling the EFY office. They're really nice! (they're in the same office that I used to be at Independent Study :D) Anyway, if you could look into that I would appreciate it. Kevin, Julie, you want to do it with me? :D

Okay, I think that is all that I have for the week. I was really sad that I wasn't able to see the video of Mel dancing. I want to see my little ballerina in action! Julie, have you been doing dancing at EAC still? Mom, I am glad that you are satisfied with the fan. I thought it turned out really cool! Okay bye!

I love you all!!

Sister Amy Reece

Pretend this says something really cool in Chinese!

Hey!

So I couldn't get the computer to cooperate with me this week to write something cool in the "subject line". Oh well. Mom, I am not sure what it was that you sent- whatever it was it was not Mandarin Standard Characters. Maybe it was simplified ba. But I understood what you were trying to say. :D

Well this was a really great week. Like Kevin, I had a lot of up and downs. This week was really interesting because it felt like we were being really productive, but when the "test" rolls around (Sunday- church) we didn't score very high. we had a lot of lessons this week not only with investigators but also with recent converts and less-active members. And most of our lessons with investigators had a member present. But on Sunday we had no investigators at Church, only 3 of our 14 recent converts came, and none of the less-actives that we have been working with. It's really disappointing to be working hard but not be immediately gratified with results. I think one thing that I have really learned as a missionary is that A) the Lord has His own time and B)people have their agency. Those are both extremely important things that are hard to remember sometimes. So there is the down side of the week. But the upside of the week comes when stepping back and looking at the little miracles.

Like- a Sister that has been meeting with the missionaries for ages is really progressing in her reading and praying. Another girl, a 18-year-old girl is really reading the scriptures and asking us really good questions. She couldn't come to church yesterday but called and asked if we could meet with her tonight. That is a miracle because she has only been able to meet with us on Saturdays because of school. We're really excited to teach her about the plan of salvation tonight. Another great miracle from the week was being able to meet with a less-active sister and having the Relief Society President go with us. The Relief Society President was able to understand the sisters situation better and the less-active sister was able to feel the love of the ward.

So while the week had disappointing times- it also had great times. As a missionary our highs and lows are VERY much different than the rest of the world, but there is still take-away for the rest of you out there: look for the good and the miracles everyday! If we want the bad and the awful, we'll find it. But that won't help anything. Look for miracles and make miracles happen! Okay, that is my motivational speach for the week! :D

Hey mom- or anyone else that has time- can you look into EFY next summer for me? I am thinking that, if possible, that would be an awesome summer job for when I get home. Is it even possible for me to do it? Can I do the application while on my mission still? What about interviews? If you could find out some information I would be extremely grateful! You can probably find it online, or by just calling the EFY office. They're really nice! (they're in the same office that I used to be at Independent Study :D) Anyway, if you could look into that I would appreciate it. Kevin, Julie, you want to do it with me? :D

Okay, I think that is all that I have for the week. I was really sad that I wasn't able to see the video of Mel dancing. I want to see my little ballerina in action! Julie, have you been doing dancing at EAC still? Mom, I am glad that you are satisfied with the fan. I thought it turned out really cool! Okay bye!

I love you all!!

Sister Amy Reece

Buenos Dias; 19.Sept.2011

Dear Family,

Well Mom, Tell Preston he better look out cause when I get home I'm gonna kill him!! I'm serious. I really am very disappointed. I mean I obviously can't be too upset because that is a great thing, but really!?!? My only brother and my best friend both get married while I'm on my mission? I'll definitely get over it within the next few minutes and forgive him but I am disappointed. If you get the chance to send him a message tell him I expect a letter soon, really soon.

Well this week went pretty well. Like always there're ups and downs. The downs aren't terrible though. I 'm just trying to figure out how I can find and teach more people. I feel like I am working hard but I'm stuck right now. I think I need to do better about planning. That is so vital in missionary work. I need to be more effective with my time.

The ups are great! We had four investigators at Church yesterday! Reina and Rene came. SO did Vanessa. And so did a lady named Carmen Tejada. I don't think I have mentioned her. She was found almost two years ago, was a few days away from being baptized and then decided not to, and was then dropped. Elder Lamb and I picked her up again when I first got here and we have been teaching her off and on every since. She is a great person. She loves the Church. She loves all the members. But she is Catholic and can't understand the principle of Apostasy and Restoration. I think I have talked about that with her almost every time that I have gone over there and still every tie I invite her to be baptized she says," I was already baptized." It's very frustrating. I'm sure what you are doing, Amy, isn't very easy: teaching people that have no Christian background. But sometimes I wish that I could just start on ground Zero with these people. They are so caught up in traditions and their own beliefs that they literally can't open their ears and understand our message. They listen to us teach the Restoration and agree with everything and then when we invite them to be baptized they say," I'm already baptized." They can't rap their minds around the fact that we are teaching them something tat they don't already know. It really boils my blood. Sorry:D I'm kinda ranting right now. This is a sore subject though because we have two people right now that are really good people and like the Church and the members and everything but can't get over this barrier, and I don't know what to do. David, what is the prominent religion in Germany? Did you have to deal with these similar problems? If so, how did you have success in helping them understand the message of the Restoration?

But anyway, life is still great ad I still love what I am doing. These are just problems and concerns that come with the job :-D

Some other good news comes from the our Zone. between two and six weeks ago our Zone had only 4 or 5 people that had committed to baptism on specific dates. Last week we had 14. That was a great increase! This week we have 33. That is amazing! This Zone hasn't had that many baptismal dates this whole year. We are going to strive to have 50 by the end of this next week. President Anderson is pushing us to show more faith and invite everyone to be baptized. That is Christ's Doctrine. That is what He did and that is what we should be doing. If you haven't served a mission you might not understand why I am so excited about these numbers. These Key Indicators are how we track the progress of the Lord's work and of God's children in our Areas, Zones, and the Mission (For more information on Key Indicators, see Preach My Gospel Chapter 8).

Mom, about what you said about forgiveness, I had a really good experience with that this week. One of the Sisters in the Ward was a great example for me. Her name is Sister Bonilla. She teaches early morning Seminary for our Ward. Well last week she asked us to teach Seminary on Friday at 6am to help her students learn the Scripture Masteries. So we went in and helped them and had a good time. After the class we told Sister Bonilla that we would come every Friday to do it. Well when this Friday rolled around, we woke up at 6am to go to the gym like any other day. It wasn't until I was getting ready at about 7:30 that I realized that I had completely buffed Sister Bonilla. I felt terrible. I tried calling her a few times throughout the day to say sorry but she never answered her phone. I felt so bad. I was afraid that she was going to be very upset with me and that she would lose her trust and confidence in us as missionaries, especially in me because I had promised we would be there. It wasn't until about 7:30 that I finally got a hold of her, ready to get chewed out. To my surprise and relief she just laughed it off and told me not to worry about it. With a laugh in her voice she said," Well I thought about calling you last night to remind you, but I then thought to myself 'Misssionaries don't forget anything'." :-D All I could do was laugh with her, thank her for forgiving me, and promise to be there next week. I was so relieved that she forgave me so easily. She didn't have any kind of hard feelings at all. It amazed me. I want to be more like that. And by the way (if you haven't already figured this out), contrary to popular belief, missionaries aren't perfect. So please be patient with your missionaries. This is a stressful job. And nothing is worse than having a member get mad at you and hold a grudge for something that you either didn't do or they don't fully understand.

But anyway, we all need to strive to be more like our Saviour who said," Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Well I can't think of much else to say. David, thank you for your letter and keep up the great work with school, your calling, and Kevin. Amy, keep working hard and looking for those miracles. You're always great at seeing the Lord's hand in what you do.

I love you all so much. Please never let anything get between you and God's commandment. Nothing- not school, work, friends, or even family. Keeping God's commandments is the most important thing we can do in this life. But I'm really not too worried. You are all great examples of righteous living. Keep it up! I love you!

Love,

Elder Kevin Reece

大家!

Hello to one and all!

Kevin, I wish I could say I have just gotten that "in tune" with the Spirit on my mission. But alas, It was just coincidence. That is so fun that you two get to serve together. I am jealous! With Sisters never in Zone Leader positions we never get to serve with our MTC companions. Well, I shouldn't say never. But in my case never. Sis. Bray and I are now both senior companion, so it is pretty safe to say that it won't happen. Pooh!

Well, this week was a week full of continued adjusting. Adjusting to my new companion, being back in this area and being senior companion. It has all been a great learning experience though and despite the less-than-fantastic times, I am loving it. This has been a weird start of a move-call though because I am now on the downward slope of counting. We sisters have 11 move-calls on island and I am now on move-call six. Weird! I have been doing a lot of contemplating and thinking about my mission so far and what I still want to do. There is an activity in Preach My Gospel where we are told to imagine the end of our mission and think about what we want to say that we have done, what we have become, and where we want others to see that we have changed.. I did that activity this week and it was great. I was able to see where I have come so far and where I need to keep doing better. I still have a lot to do in the next 8 months. I love it!

Well, like Kevin, last week we had no investigators with a baptismal goal. I wish that, also like Kevin, we now had three with a goal, but I am very happy with the one that we do have. Her name is Li Ke Fang and she is 18 years old. She met the Sisters last year ish and then fell out of contact with them. Then recently she somehow got the Elders phone number, got ahold of them, and then they referred her to us. She is really great and we are so excited to help her understand her true value. She believes in God but doesn't really understand what her relationship is. I love helping these amazing people understand that Heavenly Father isn't all firebolts and damnation, but that He loves us more than any other person. One thing that I think is really hard to understand, but once understood changes lives, is how Heavenly Father's love is represented in the gift of His Son. Most people here have heard of Jesus Christ and know that He died on the cross, but they think it is just a history story. They have never heard why that happened and what really happened. I love when they are willing to hear and we can share with them. It really does change lives!

This week Sister Reid and I were able to go and sit down with the Bishop here in Nantou. We discussed what he expects of us and what we can do to help him. That man is a great man. From watching him I learn that holding a calling such as the Bishop of a ward doesn't mean that their lives are perfect, or become perfect through their service. But rather that the Lord knows perfectly what each person's situation is and what they need, and strengthens them accordingly. This man has a beautiful home, a wonderful wife and two beautiful children, but they still have their challenges. Being baptized doesn't mean that life will suddenly be all roses and daises. It takes work and dedication and faith. I know that life will still give us challenges, but through doing the best we can the Lord will give us His strength to withstand them. I love the story in the Mosiah 24 about the people of Alma. The Lord didn't just take away all of the burdens because of their patience and faith, rather He made it so that they didn't feel the burdens. He eased them. They still had the challenges and the temptations and the trials, but they also had the strength of the Lord.

I know now more than ever that the Lord truly supports us in all that he asks us to do. He will always be there. We just need to reach out for Him.

I love you all so much. Thank you for your love and support. Keep being amazing examples of the believers!

Loves,
Sister Amy Reece

Hello to one and all!

Hey Family!

 

First off- Welcome to the family Kristoffer!!! You couldn't have been more lucky than being placed in my mom's house. She is AH-MAZE-ING! And yes, please please please protect my amazing little sisters, both of them. Mel, you better not try and pull anymore of that fancy business you used to try (Yeah- you know what I am talking about. You, me, driving a boy home. Remember?)- now you'll have Kristoffer to answer too. :D Anyway- Welcome!

 

I love this area. It has really been struggling for awhile now. But as we drive down the street and meet with various people I can just feel the potential that is here. The two wards that we cover are both having challenges with their ward leadership being active in church. Because of that Sis. Affleck and I have decided to focus most of our efforts right now on building the ward from the bottom up. We went and visited with a lot of less-active members and with a lot of members that are tetering on the verge of going inactive. These people are all so amazing but somehow get lost in the shuffle of unstable ward leadership. There is one family, the Shen Family, that the mom and three teenagers have been baptized for a year and a half now and are already inactive. The Elders have tried to go visit them before but the family hasn't even let them inside the door. We went and visited them yesterday and we found the daughter outside with the dog. It was perfect because we were already face-to-face with her and she couldn't really deny us. We were able to sit down with all three kids and talk to them about prayer. It broke our heart when they said that they were baptized because they finished the lessons and the missionaries said baptism was the next step. That always breaks my heart. But we had an awesome lesson that ended with one of the daughters praying and us being able to set up a follow-up appointment. This is an amazing family that somehow fell through the cracks. A lot of the times as a missionary I feel like the search and rescue people on the boat- throwing those lost in sea their lifeline- reading, praying and going to church. It is amazing. I love seening new people come into the church through baptism, but I also LOVE watching less-active members come back and qualify once again for the Celestial Kingdom.

 

Speaking of amazing less-active members!! I found out the other day some miracles that have been happening with some less-actives that I helped bring back in Tanzi. There was one sister that Sister Howard randomly called one day and then we started meeting with her. She had been inactive for 9ish years and was living with her boyfriend. Long story short I found out that her boyfriend just got baptized and they are planning on being sealed in the temple next year!!!! And another less-active member we started teaching went to the temple a couple of weeks ago and did baptisms for the dead for the first time. And last but not least another now active sister's niece got baptized a couple of weeks ago! I love teaching less-active members. There is so much joy in helping them find what they once had again. I love being a missionary!

 

I know that this truly is the church of Jesus Christ here on earth today. I know that it is through following the teachings of Jesus Christ and His chosen leaders that each and everyone of us can have unbelievable happiness. And there is no expiration date on repentance. Jesus Christ is always there waiting for us, not matter when or where or for what reason we have been brought to our knees. There is still so much that I don't understand about so many aspects of Jesus Christ's gospel- but I know it's all true. The Chinese translation of "gospel" is "fuyin"- good news, glad message. This truly is the greatest and gladest message there ever is. Share it! Recently we have been inviting all of the members that we visit to make a list of all of their friends, aquaintances, family members, anyone they know that has not yet received this good news. And then take that list to the Lord and ask who it is that He is preparing right now to hear it. And now I am extending that invitation to you. I know that if you will do this you will see miracles. The Lord is preparing people everywhere to hear the gospel- but He needs our help. Please help us misisonaries help them!

 

Again, I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. And I know that although I am not perfect, He is allowing me to wear His name on my chest. And I am so greatful for that.

 

I love you all so much!

Sister Amy Reece

Buenos Dias; 27.June.2011

Dear Family,

It was great to hear from you, especially you two, David and Rachel. Thanks for taking the time to write. It sounds like life is really exciting for you right now. It's weird seeing pictures of you two together because I still haven't even seen you two since you were married. I've never seen David that close to a girl that wasn't his Mom or sister in my whole life. It's kinda trippy;-D

Well this week was great. We had 2 Baptisms and 4 Confirmations! Two of the confirmations were from bapti

sms the last two weeks. The other two people that got baptized and confirmed were Jissel Jimenez and Jose Zafra. Jissel is the niece of Maryori who got baptized last week. Jose Zafra is an older Peruvian man that has been investigating the Church for 11 years!! His children are all members and he is here living with his daughter right now. We don't know when he is going to return to Peru. He has known that he needs to get baptized for awhile but he just wasn't doing it. Then finally miracle after miracle he decided to have his interview and get baptized. It was a great baptism. The three of us were full of feelings of triumph and immense gratitude. It really is a miracle that he got baptized. We're not quite sure what happened to make him finally make the decision, but something happened inside of him and he decided to get baptized. It was also really intense because he had his first interview on Saturday but he needed to have a second interview with a member of the Mission Presidency to approve that he could get baptized. Well the interview was at 11:40 on Sunday morning and the baptism was supposed to start right after Church at 12:30. We were stressing because up until they left the interview, we didn't know for sure if he was even going to be baptized. Because of that we didn't announce it or tell anyone; but once we knew that it was going to happen, we scrabbled to catch as many people as we could before they all went home.

Jissel was baptized Saturday night. Due to some extenuating circumstance we had to change the day time and place of the baptism the day before it was supposed to happen. There was a wedding in our chapel from the English Ward and so we had to move it to another Chapel. That was cause for a lot of stress. The baptism was supposed to start at 7. Jissel's mom didn't even get off of work until 7 so they showed up a little after 8 and we started at about 8 30. But everything turned out really well. There were only us missionaries, the first counselor of the Bishopric and his wife, and members of Jissel's family. even though it was a small baptism and it stared late, it was really good and very powerful. Most of Jissel's family are inactives from Honduras. I hope it helps them see their sister (Maryori) and now their niece (Jissel) get baptized. Maryori's mom also will be getting baptized soon. We just need to get her married first. That will be a really big help to the family.

The other big news for the week is that President and Sister Anderson fly in today!! They should arrive at 3:40 our time. Once they land, President and Sister Hale are released. I will get to meet President and Sister Anderson on Thursday at a "Meet the President" Zone Conference. I am excited for this change.

Well time's up so I got to go. I love you all. The work is so true. Remember that. It is a great privilege for me to serve here in this wonderful Mission. I am so grateful for this opportunity. I am thinking about and making plans to make sure that I take advantage of my last 7 months in the Mission Field. I love you all so much. I am so proud of you and I am and will be eternally grateful that I have each of you sealed to me as an eternal family. I love the Gospel!!!

Love,

Elder Reece

PS- The pictures are 1) Me and Elder Alger. I lived with him my last three Transfers in Hollywood Hills then I got transferred and he went home. (Amy- He is the one that wrote the sticky note) 2 & 3) Elder Lamb and Elder Owens, my two companions. I love being with them. They are super funny together. It will be weird when Elder Owen's Greenie gets here and we are just a normal companionship. 4) Jissel's baptism. Sorry the resolution isn't very good. I am going to try to get a better one from one of my companions. And I am going to get a picture of Jose's baptism from one of them too. My camera battery died:( Love ya'll!!

No clever title

Hello!

Wow, this was quite the exciting couple of weeks for everyone. I can't believe Leslie is married! I met her now husband a couple of times at the MTC and he seems like a great guy. Congratulations to them! And yes, I was very blessed to have been trained by Sis. Howard. She is an amazing missionary. Oh, and update on her- she's engaged! Yep, she was actually engaged about three weeks after she got home to a guy that she has known for years now. Crazy! I got to see her last week too as her and her parents came back to tour Taiwan. Thank for the pictures mom! I can't wait to see more next week.

Kevin! You're Zone Leader!! I am so excited and proud of you. I didn't really understand what that meant before but now I know that is an awesome responsibility and a lot of work. You will be amazing though! Look at my little brother all grown up and leading zones! :D

As for me this week I hit a car. Yep, the car did not hit me, I hit it. Last Tuesday after a meeting Sis. Gandolph and I were riding down to Tanzi in the rain when a car decided to start backing into a car despite on coming traffic (a.k.a Sis Gandolph and I :D). Sis Gandolph swerved out of the way fast enough but I had no option other than slam on my brakes and try and not hit the car going really fast. I did hit it though and left a pretty blue streak down the door from the plastic box on the back of my bike. I got some small, but pretty bruises on my knees and sore shoulders, but other than that I am okay. Sis. Gandolph looked back just in time to see me hit the pretty white car and said it was a pretty good crash. Luckily that man driving the car was very very nice and took complete blame for it. I also took complete blame and so we both left feeling satisfied it was our own fault. I had to reattach my box but that is nothing compared to the pretty blue streak down his nice white door. But oh well- all is well now!

Besides my hitting a car the week was not very exciting. All of our amazing investigators that have been progressing so well the last couple of weeks have kind of leveled out now- and not in a good way. Sis. Gandolph and I are praying, studying and pondering a lot on what we can do to help these wonderful people take the final steps into the baptismal font and start their journey of enduring to the end. I used to wonder what missionaries would study for a whole hour every morning and now I feel like even if I studied the whole day it wouldn't be enough. I cherish my personal study time and am so grateful to be making it part of my lifelong daily routine. I encourage you all to cherish your time studying the words Christ and His chosen disciples. There is so much amazing literature out there!

Okay, I think that is all that I have for this week. I don't have any fun pictures for today so the ones from last week will have to tide you over till next week :D

I love you all more than all of the trees burned in the awful wildfire! :D

Loves!

Sis. Amy Reece

Buenos Dias; 20.June.2011

Dear Family,

This week has been amazing. I have definitely started a great new chapter in my Mission. So on Wednesday I went to Transfer Meeting and was Transferred out of Hollywood Hills East and moved up north to the Lauderhill Ward. I don't know where the confusion came but I started my mission in Miami Lakes. I had been in Hollywood Hills Ward since August of last year. Miami Lakes was a long time ago. But now I am in Lauderhill. I have two companions: one is Elder Lamb and the other is Elder Owens. Yes, I am with one of my MTC companions again. We were pretty excited. And Elder Owens is only with us until his Greenie arrives from the MTC in a few weeks. He got delayed so Elder Owens just joined us in the meantime. When we split into the two areas Elder Lamb and I will be the Lauderhill West area and Elder Owens and his new companion will be the Lauderhill East area. So far it has been really fun being with these two. We all three get along really well, we teach well together, and we are always having a good time. Also, I am not District Leader anymore. Now I am Zone Leader with Elder Lamb. I am happy I'm not District Leader anymore and I am excited and a little nervous to be Zone Leader. But Elder Lamb has been Zone Leader before so I am not really worried. So overall I am very happy with the way that Transfers worked out. So far I love the Ward. They are great people. I would be happy to stay here for the rest of my Mission. But we will see. I have four Transfers left after this one ends so we will see what Heaven and President Anderson have planned for me for the next few months.

Speaking of President Anderson, he arrives in Florida a week from tonight. The way it works is that as soon as he steps foot on Ft Lauderdale soil, the mantel of Mission President falls on his shoulders and President Hale is released. President Hale will then stay in a hotel with his family for the next few days so that he is accessible for any questions from President Anderson and then he and his family are off back to Utah. This Mission will miss them greatly. I have loved being with them. But as with all changes in life, and even more so with changes made by God, I am excited to see what the future will bring and I will move foward with great faith in President Anderson.

More big news for the week is that Wednesday was the Ground-breaking ceremony for the South Florida Temple!! We didn't get to go watch it on site, but it was broadcast to our building and we were able to watch it. It is an exciting time to be here in South Florida. I am so excited for when we will have a Temple dowwn here. I am super excited to come see it when it is finished. And I am most excited for the members here, especially my members and recent converts, to be able to go to the Temple as often as they would like. It is an exciting time.

Some more great news is that we had a baptism this week! Her name is Maryori( pronounced like Margerie). She is 12 yrs old. Her family is from Honduras. Almost all of her brothers and sisters are members. Her mother, Reina, wants to get baptized as well but is waiting for her husband to want to marry her. For some reason he doesn't want to marry her even though they have been together for over 30 yrs and have 8 children together. We are working on that right now. Maryori's neice also wants to get baptized. Her name is Giselle. She is 9. We are working to get her baptized this week end.

I am loving being here right now. I wish I could tell you all about it but there is not enough time. It is always crazy getting to know so many new people. But I really am enjoying it.

I love you all. I don't have a lot of time left so I gotta saty good bye.

But keep being amazing and keep us far away Missionaries updated. I didn't even know Leslie or Ashley were getting married. Who are they getting married to?

Well love you all a ton. Keep up the great work!

With love,

Elder Reece

Pictures - I am sending some and requesting some in return!

Hello!

First things first- HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JULIE!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE 18. AHHH!!!!

I can't believe how huge that fire is. The pretty Blue is no more! I am grateful now that we went out there last summer and took all of those pictures with Grandma and Grandpa. Sis. Gandolph's sister's family is living in Arizona right now and are at the other end of the fire. They said at night they can see the fire and it's glow from their house. Scary! Were you able to see the actual flames from RV or were they on the other side of the mountains?

Oh- first of all, move-call results! Sis. Gandolph and I are both staying in our area for another move-call. That makes four move-calls here which is a lot for a Sister to stay in one area. I am really excited to be able to work with Sis. Gandolph again here in my "birthplace". We are working with some amazing people that we hope will be able to be baptized over the next six weeks. I will probably move after that and will have feelings a lot like Kevin had about moving. How long were you in Miami Lakes KJ? But for now I am content yet excited to continue the good work here in Feng Yuan and Tanzi.

I keep forgetting to tell you all about the Taiwanese language. Yep- Taiwanese is an actual language. It is a completely spoken language that is way more intense than Chinese. Just to give you an idea of how crazy it is, Chinese has 5 different "tones" (ways that the voice fluctuates) and Taiwanese has at least 10, if not more. In my area pretty much everyone knows how to speak it but only the older people use it as their first language. As you go farther south down the island the more you hear Taiwanese and the less you hear Chinese. It's crazy when at church or on the street people just start speaking in Taiwanese. Taiwanese almost as foreign to me as Chinese did about 7 months ago. Almost. There are some words that are similar to Chinese. Anyway, there is your fun fact for the week.

I am amazed each day at the humility of the people that I am working with. Do you remember my recent convert Harmony? She was a three week miracle baptism. Everytime we teach her something she immediately recognize how and where she needs to improve. Not only does she recognize it, but she stops and prays to Heavenly Father for forgiveness and then never does it again. I am so in awe of her example of always improving. Whether it is something seeminglg big like not going shopping on Sunday, or something seemingly small like praying with her children each night, she is willing and eager to improve. I think we can all learn from her example that we need to not be complacent with where we are. We are taught in Ether 12 that the Lord will show is our weaknesses so that he can make them strong. If the Lord isn't currently making your weaknesses obvious to you, I would encourage you to pray and ask for Him to. I can testify that He really will. I can also testify that it will be dificult in the beginning, but getting up and over that hump will bring you closer to God and stronger than you can imagine.

It sounds like there is a lot of weddings and babys going on back home. Weird! I have been wondering when Leslie was getting married. As she and her finance are both Taiwan Taichung missionaries word has been spreading for awhile that they were getting married but no body knew when. As always, I would love to see pictures. I am a teeny bit jealous of the company mom and Kim will have in the cealing room. Again, pictures would be appreciated. :D Give all of the Dunns massive hugs for me- especially Kaylie. Oh, and who is Emily marrying? Kim, isn't it funny that your friends are finally getting married and your finally having a baby. You all are all grown up! Gross!

Okay, this is the end for me. I love you all and wish you all safety and luck in all that you do. Julie- I want to hear updates on the job hunt. Mom and Kim- PICTURES!

Loves, loves, and loves!

Sister Amy Reece

p.s. Yay! the pictures attached this week! Yes, Sis. Gandolph is putting a dead frog to her tougne. And yes, I am getting a drink from that awesome dragon fountain. Okay, the second statement is a lie, but it looks like I am, huh!?!?

Ni Hao!

Family!

I am SO happy to hear that our house is still standing! I don't know why but I let the fire distract and worry me more than I should have. Mom, you don't know how much of an answer to my prayers it was that you said you took my hard-drive with you. I should have had more faith in you! Anyway, I am sad yet anxious to hear the total damage that the fire has done. It sounds like it is not out yet, but under control? Right? If you have pictures I would love to see them.

Your week sounds like it was so much fun! Yay for family and friends and being together! Last Monday was a Chinese holiday and it was fun to drive by houses and see so many families together. The people here work so hard and the children are at school so much that there is very little family time. They don't even really have weekends here- they just work and study right through it. It is so sad! I can definitely see the effect that no family time has on the relationships in families here. I love me family! Thank you for loving and supporting me and taking the time for each other! Yay for sappy "I love you's"!! :D

Anyway- this was a great week and I can't believe it is already over and we are on to the last week of the move-call. Ah! I feel like Sis. Gandolph and I just became companions. It is really unpredictable whether or I will stay or move. So next time you hear from me I could be in a new area with a new companion or just still here in FengYuan and Tanzi.

This morning we woke up early, got on our bikes and headed up into the mountains with our zone. And when I say up, I really mean up. It was such a steep bike ride and I will definitely feel it tomorrow. And I think I lost about 10 pounds just from sweating! And it was only 8 in the morning. But it was all worth it because we got to spend time with our zone and get some awesome pictures. Taiwan is so beautiful!

This week I have been studying virtue a lot in my personal study and have learned so much! I still don't understand it really well, but I love it! Virtue is so much more than just have clean thoughts and actions. To me it is also being completely honest and true in all that we do. Sis. Dalton gave an amazing talk in the past Young Women's general broadcast called "Guardians of Virtue" that I recommend you all to read and love! :D Speaking of general broadcast and General Conference- thank you so much for sending me the Ensign mom. I am LOVING reading and marking it up. I want to give everyone I am working with copies of the whole Ensign cause it is all so good!! I loved listening to it all and I am loving reading it all again! Yay for living prophets!

Okay quickly I will tell you the miracle of the week. Sammi, one of our investigator's loves Sis. Gandolph, me and this Church. Why is this a miracle you ask? Well, because she didn't really love any of those three before. She kinda was a little ball of 'tude before but after really praying and reading the scriptures she is a whole new person. I love seeing people change through coming closer to Christ. I love, love, love the Atonement and it's power!

Now the funny story. Do you remember in the old "Parent Trap" movie when the one sister cuts out the back of the other sister's skirt? Then the poor girl walks around flashing everyone without even knowing? I can now sympathize with the sister that gave the whole dancehall a show. No, Sister Gandolph did not cut out the back of my skirt :D but yes, I did leave the apartment with me skirt tucked up in itself in the back. I didn't notice anything was wrong until we walked past our guard and he gave me really funny look. I then looked down and realized I was teaching that dear guard all about the temple. I took "stand as a witness of God at all times and in all things and in all places" to a whole new level this week! :D

As always, this letter is super long. Oops! I love you all and can't wait to hear the final report and the fire. Oh, and see pictures of little Elizalynn and the weekend in the valley.

Loves, loves, loves!

Sister Amy Reece

ps I just tried to attach some pictures but my camera won't attach to the computer. Sorry! I will try again next week. Loves!