Elder Reece - 22 February 2011

Gosh I love you so much.
     I love being able to come here once a week and hear a little about each of your lives. How crazy that six years ago we all lived together in Colorado and now we are all in different parts of the world doing different, crazy things and the main communication we have is this little metal box in front of me. I definitely didn't take enough advantage of my time with all of you when we were all at home together. It makes true the saying that absence makes the heart grow fonder. The further away I am from you, the more I love all of you.

Elder Reece, Italo, Elder Robles

     Thank you for all of your emails and letters and your thoughts about Sabbath Day attendance. It really helps. You'll be glad to here that Raul came to Church on Sunday. He only stayed fro the first hour because he was super tired but HE CAME. He sacrificed and came. We had a really good lesson with him last Tuesday and talked about the importance of coming even if its only for sacrament meeting. After the lesson he said that he understood a lot better. He is doing so great. I am super excited for his baptism next week. All of your advice was so great. Thank you for your thoughts. I am sure that I will have other people that I will teach that will need more help. What helped me last week was talking to my Bishop and following the Spirit, exactly what you all said to do. I'm glad we're all on the same page.
     Well other big news is that Italo got baptized!! It was a great experience. He is super awesome. He was confirmed on Sunday. Also, Martin got married on Sunday! It was a great wedding, the first one I have ever been to. Bishop Ayaviri did it. It was a great night. The picture is him and his new wife. Both Italo and Martin were ordained Priests this last Sunday. Bishop isn't wasting any time with them. They are going to be put to work and they are going to be great! I love both of them.
      This week I gave my first Baptismal Interview. It went well. She will be getting baptized tonight but unfortunately I won't be there. It was a neat experience. I hope I can make my next one shorter, though. This one took 1 1/2 hours. Way too long.

Martin and Wife

      But that's all the time I have. Sorry. Know that I love you. Keep strong in the Gospel. Like Amy said, we need to learn to give our whole beings to God. I am learning to. And like Kim said, there is a lot of good things that we can do with our time. A great youth that I was with on Sunday told me that idleness is the greatest challenge we face in our day. It is a great point. We can fill our time with useful things. I love you all. You are great.
     Love,
                     Elder Reece