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.
