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