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
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