Oh that verse of scripture melts me!

Hello my family and friends!

So first of all I apologize for only sending two out of three recordings. The first one was too big to email. #TheStoryOfMyLife

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MIKI THIS WEEK!!!! I CAN"T BELIEVE YOU ARE GETTING SO OLD!!! I LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!!

This week has been stupendous. Also really hard, but really good.

We started a new initiative that we came up with that has been super awesome!! We have lots of new CPs coming in to work for Disney this week so we created a "Member mission call" with the help of Brooklyn (our relief society president) and it has been SUPER AWESOME! We basically give them a letter that calls them to be a member missionary. It is worded very similar to a normal mission call and when they read that they have been called to serve in the Buena Vista YSA ward we all cheer and it is AWESOME! It has really motivated the ward to share the gospel and I am so excited to see all of the good that they do!! I'll attach a copy of it so you can read it. BECAUSE YOU ARE ALL CALLED TO BE MEMBER MISSIONARIES TOO!!!

So I went over my week in my recording but you only got the last two thirds of it so I'll go over it quickly again. Feel free to skip over this if you don't care about scheduling haha. 

Monday was awesome we had FHE and lots of people came!

Tuesday was also awesome! We had dinner with one of our favorite members in the ward and also had a few lessons with people.

Wednesday we watched the World Wide Full Time Missionary Training that was broadcast from Salt Lake. IT WAS AWESOME!! we also had night games at Mickey's Retreat and we played SIGNS!!!!! It totally brought me back to sign language last year. It was a blast.

On Thursday we had District meeting and talked about HTBT and we memorized all of them and roll played applying them. We also did the booth by CP housing and had dinner with the Hagermans and the bishop and his wife and the elders. And then had a lesson with a less active in our ward that is literally friends with Mickey Mouse and like 15 other characters. But regardless of her awesome job she is super cute and so incredible. She has taught me so much about the Atonement. It has been really humbling to watch people apply the Atonement in their lives and to watch them change. I love it.

On Friday we had weekly planning and dinner with a couple CPs who are awesome!! They are so much fun and such good members of our ward. 

On Saturday we had a lesson with "A" our investigator. We mutually decided that she isn't quite ready for the lessons yet, but she is still coming to church every Sunday and coming to all the activities so she will get there but not yet. But we are still friends with her and we see her all the time even though we aren't teaching her right now. She is the sweetest and I love her. We also had lunch with Brooklyn (our relief society president) and Kalinda and Sarah her two counselors at Kalinda's house and they made us fancy breakfast french toast and I just can't get over how much I love those three. We also spent time at the booth with a member!

On Sunday we had an incredible sacrament meeting and we met all of our new CPs! We had about 18 new people at morning sacrament and I think we had like 10-15 at night sacrament so there were so many new people to meet this week! It was awesome. On Sunday we also had dinner at Brooklyn's with Sarah and Lacey. They are my favorite! Then we visited some people and had night sacrament.

Anyways... I'm sure most of you skipped over that. 

So ya... I am doing pretty dang good. I feel like I am being stretched a lot, but in a good way. I have learned this week that I need to be more humble. I've also learned that being humble doesn't mean putting yourself down for things, but for giving all the credit for the good that does happen to the Lord and for being truly grateful for it. I've learned that it also means being grateful for the trials you've been given as well as the good times. I've learned to rely on the Lord and I'm starting to learn how to give all the glory to him. It's a process to learn, but a good process. 

So I'm doing good and loving being a missionary.

Sending you all the love and happiness from Central Florida. Thank you for every email and letter I have gotten. I say it every week, but I also mean it every week when I say that it means the world to me. I love you a whole lot!

--

     -♥-

Sister Reid

"I'm an Elder... can I have a wand?"

Jan. 18, 2016

After an extensive discussion about how Dumbledore retrieved the elder wand and how Harry ended up with it an Elder that hadn't participated at all in the conversation looked up and said "I'm an Elder... Can I have a wand?"

HELLLLOOOOOO my dearest family and friends! How are my people? 

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who writes me letters and emails every week. You have no idea how much this means to me and how much it reminds me that I am loved. My heart is always so happy when I read about how you guys are praying for me and I just want to formally say THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I love y'all a whole lot.

This week has been crazy fantastic but also really challenging. So normally in YSA wards you don't get fed very often, however this week we were so incredibly blessed and we had people feed us lunch AND dinner every single day this week. LIKE HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN?! We were even double booked for dinners a couple of times. Ahhh this ward is so good to me. <3

That being said that means we have worked from 10:00 am until 9:30 pm every day and hardly stopped to take breaks which means we are exhausted everyday. But there is no greater feeling than hitting your head on your pillow at the end of the day and knowing you worked hard all day. 

So I sent a couple of voice recordings that I made that went over the things I did this week so you can listen to those if you want a break down of everything that happened, but I want to focus a little bit more on some of the bigger things that have happened instead of just typing out my schedule. 

On Tuesday we had the opportunity again to spend time at the Orlando Temple doing service. We spent the morning planting flowers and enjoying the company of all the missionaries in O-South. It is seriously one of the biggest blessings of this area to be able to be on temple grounds every week. For those of you at home I would strongly exhort you to GO TO THE TEMPLE every week, even if all you can do is sit on the grounds. I promise you that it will enhance your life and you will feel more peace on a day to day basis. 

On Thursday we had an incredible Zone Conference with Richard J. Maynes of the 70 and IT WAS SO GOOD! If you remember the talk from this last conference called "The Joy of Living a Christ-Centered Life" that was about the potters wheel being centered on the gospel... that's who came and spoke to us! Some of my favorite things he said were...

"We can't lead or draw others to the Lord unless we stand closer to Him than they."

"Be the missionary your mom thinks you are."

"You don't want to be the missing link in a story like this."

"This is a life or death situation."

"Thomas S. Monson doesn't need to make every decision. You get to make some of them."

"You're part of something that's big, and part of something that's rubbing forward."

He also taught us about having "Quality Gospel Conversations" or QGCs and that has made a huge difference in our work the last few days. It's been awesome.

On Sunday we watched the HUGE regional Stake Conference that was for the 14 south eastern states. It was a broadcast from Salt Lake and L. Whitney Clayton, Sister Rieves, Ronald A. Rasband, and Robert D. Hales spoke. IT WAS SO GOOD!! Some of my favorite quotes from that were..

"all in. 100%. Nothing held back."

"Stay the course, and stay on course."

"we become the product or sum of our decisions."

"to effectively serve others, we must see them through Heavenly Father's eyes."

"The temple is the safest place you can be."

"We cannot get home alone."

So it's been an incredibly spiritual week this week. We've taught lots of lessons to our few investigators, as well as several less-active and recent converts, as well as all of our lessons with members at dinner appointments. 

I hope you all know how much I love you and how much your Father in Heaven loves you too! Have a great week and don't forget to tell me about it! 

I love you more than all the fish the disciples caught by casting their nets on the right side!

--

     -♥- 

Sister Reid

"And one of the most beautiful things I have learned about wait is it's marriage to hope. Because in order to wait we must believe there is something to wait for, and hope is a revolutionary patience."

 

This is the Harry Potter castle through the trees... when we drove past it I screamed and Sister Lewis started crying a little bit. And then we struggled to take a picture in time. hahaha

 

“You were actually thinking about gas…”

Jan. 10, 2016

“You were actually thinking about gas…”

Hello my peeps!

First of all, I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! (but what else is new?)

I'm still loving Buena Vista and LOVING being in a YSA ward. My companions are so fun and we seriously get along so well. Sister Duran is from Mexico and she said that I am her first companion that will eat spicy things with her. WHOOO! 10 points for Griffindor! Sister Lewis is from Utah and she understands all of my references to every TV show, YouTube video, and movie so it is an all-around good time. The three of us are laughing most of the time.

Here are some of my favorite events from the week!

On Monday night we had FHE and we played Book of Mormon Jeopardy. It was a party and the three of us gave the lesson on the Book of Mormon and how important it is in each of our lives.

On Tuesday we had interviews and district meeting. In interviews I was approved to drive! The APs set up this huge Preach My Gospel obstacle course and it was so cool. Just imagine me running around in a HUGE Santa outfit trying to teach the restoration and shoot baskets and do scripture chases and bounce a ping-pong-ball while running and reciting HTBT points and trying to ask inspired questions. We were laughing so hard and it took our district about a half hour to finish all of it. FUNNEST DISTRICT MEETING EVER!

On Wednesday we got to do Temple service at the Orlando Temple! It was so much fun being on temple grounds with other missionaries! I am in love with the temple and it is such a blessing to have one so close to us. After Temple service we went on exchanges. Me and and Sister Duran stayed in Buena Vista with Sister Wooley and Sister Lewis went to Olympia. It was a stressful transfer, but we both learned so much! Since I was approved to drive the day before I got to drive on exchanges and Tiwi didn't tell me to slow down once! (For those of you who don't know, Tiwi is our little box in our car that tells us and the mission president if we speed or drive aggressively.)

On Thursday we exchanged back. Since we aren't allowed to proselyte on Disney property (a lot of people live in Disney CP housing) we set up a booth by one of the bus stops and talk to people as they walk by. We call this "the walk" because it is where everyone walks. (clever I know!) Anyways, we were sitting there and Sister Lewis did the funniest most awkward contact I have ever seen in my life. This girl walked by and she just yelled at her "do you wanna play a game? You can tell us a scripture to look up!" And when the girl said she didn't want to she said "well...do you want to look one up and then you can tell us...later...?" Then the girl took the Book of Mormon and walked away. We were laughing so hard.

While we were at the walk we noticed a girl walking with a suitcase (it was moving day for the CPs) and sister Duran was prompted to ask her if she needed help. She immediately started crying because she had just been on the phone with her mom because she was stressed because she didn't know how she was going to get all of her stuff moved. She had just prayed that someone would be able to help and then BOOM there we were! It was so awesome and she was so cute! So we helped her move all of her stuff to her new apartment.

On Friday we went down to the mission office to figure out some stuff and then weekly planned for the rest of the night.

On Saturday we did lots of finding and normal lessons.

On Sunday we had Ward Council and then church! Our investigator Alison came again and loved it. Then we studied and taught a skype lesson to one of our members and that was awesome! I love technology! (but not as much as you you see. But stiiiiiill I love technology. Always and forever.) Then we had a lesson with Alison and we invited her to be baptized and she accepted! WHOOO!!! And then we listened to the CES devotional in the foyer of the church while we worked on lesson reports. If you haven't watched it yet listen to it on LDS.org! It was so good!

It's been a crazy awesome week. It has been full of challenges that have stretched us a lot, but I am loving this work.

Thank you again to everyone who supports me in any way. It really is such a blessing to have such incredible friends and family like you. Every single email and letter I get from you uplifts me so much and really makes me so happy.

Y'all are incredible.

-Sister Reid

"What's the leading cause of dry skin?" "towels!"

Jan. 04, 2016

Hello my wonderful people!

So.... TRANSFERS! I have been transferred again! haha Three areas in three months! And this is my sixth and seventh companions! haha! I am in the BUENA VISTA YSA WARD WITH SISTER LEWIS AND SISTER DURAN!!! Holy cow. I love it here.

So for those of you who don't know the Buena Vista YSA ward is the DISNEY WORLD WARD! All of he Disney workers are in my ward so I know lots of people that are "friends" with Disney characters. (If someone says they are "friends" with a character that means they play that character.) There are lots of people that come in on the CP program and stay for a few months so we basically get a new ward every three months and that is happening next week so it will be really exciting! (Shaquille O'Neal's house is also in my are and we drive past it often so that's exciting! haha)

Our ward has a really fun feel to it. Everyone loves the missionaries and I feel like we have a lot of people looking out for us. And the best part is that they are all my age! I feel like I am more myself in this ward than I have been in any of my other wards. I also feel like I have known some of the members of this ward for my entire life even though I just met them.

On Tuesday was transfers and it is always SO MUCH FUN to see all the missionaries in the mission. It is always so fun to be with the people that are doing the same work and having the same challenges and living the same way as you. It's also a blast to see past companions.

On Wednesday we visited a lot of people and went on splits with a member to go finding. We have been trying to do that a lot this week where one of us goes with a member and the other two of us stay together and we go visit less actives or the people that the member visit teaches. It has been really fun and we have seen a lot of blessings come from it and it has also strengthened the members a lot. We also took one of our members (named Whitney whoo!!) with us to go finding and I swear I have not laughed so hard in my life. There were literal tears and I just felt like I was with my friends again. THESE ARE MY PEOPLE.

On Thursday (New Years Eve) we had district meeting and our district is made up of the Spanish Elders and sisters and the YSA elders and sisters and the STLs. It is a fun group and I am excited for the things we are going to do this transfer! We visited several people and had dinner at Olive Garden with a member. I also met with the relief society president and first counselor and we talked about what we can do to help them with the sisters in the ward.

On Friday (New Years Day!!) we did weekly planning all day. We had dinner with a member and then stopped by a one of our less active's house and watched the Disney World fireworks from her porch (whoo!!) This area is seriously so incredible!

On Saturday we met with President Berry and discussed what we can do to find all of these new CPs coming in this week because we are all worried about the CPs slipping through the cracks and it is so hard to find people in this area. He is so helpful and he cares so much about this work and I am so grateful to have him as a mission president.

On Sunday we had church and I just can't handle how spiritual this ward is (yay for YSA wards that are reverent during the sacrament!) We had an investigator (Allison) come and she stayed for all three hours and really felt the spirit!! And then we studied at one of our members houses since our apartment is so far away from the church. Then we dropped by some peoples houses and then went back to the church for Break the Fast and had dinner with the ward Allison came to that and then she had night sacrament! Since Disney is so strict with schedules this ward has a night sacrament so that the Disney workers can still take the sacrament even if they have to work during the day. It was so awesome to have two powerful spiritual sacrament meetings in one day!!

I am doing really good and this was probably my favorite week I've had on my mission so far. I have come to love people so quickly and while it is SO HARD switching areas after only 6 weeks I'm grateful I have been blessed to spend time in Leesburg, Daytona, and Buena Vista and for all the people I've been able to meet over the last 13 weeks.

I love you all and I just want you to know that I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I know that He loves each of you so much and that He is always there for you if you call out to Him. Being His missionary has changed my life so much and I will ever be grateful for the opportunity I've been given to serve and that I get to spend this entire year in His service!

I love you all to the moon to Utah to Florida and back. I hope you are all doing well and that you have a great start to this new year!

Don't forget to be awesome!

⌂ "Why would it be Christmas puss? Because it's red and green?"

 

December 28, 2015

 

So first of all.... TRANSFERS! I am getting transferred tomorrow and Sister Nelsen is staying. And we are pretty sure I am going to one of the South Zones because the APs asked me to say the closing prayer at the South Zone conference in a few weeks... but we shall see!

It has been an AWESOME week! First of all CHRISTMAS HAPPENED! I was so happy to skype my family! On Christmas Eve we went to lunch at this Asian Buffet place. A member from the ward organized it and it was pretty fun. Then we took thank you notes/Christmas cards to a whole bunch of members all over the ward and taught two lessons. That was really fun. On Christmas we got up and opened presents together then went down to the Corder's (senior couple that live in the apartment below us) and they made us blueberry pancakes and bacon for breakfast and then Sister Corder had little presents for us to open. And then we went back to our Apartment and studied and then went back to the Corders and they made us ham and potoatoes and sweet potatoes and jello! And then we visited one of our less actives (sister Tripp) who is super crafty. She gave us AWESOME crocheted hats!!! Sister Nelsens is a storm trooper from Star Wars and mine is just a rainbow thing with a curly mow hawk. We pretty much haven't taken them off since... hahaha! Then for dinner we went to the Mckinzies and they made us a super fancy dinner. When we got there she said "we'll eat... you'll do the WiFi thing... and then we'll eat AGAIN!" haha and that's what we did! We ate and then I skyped my family and then we ate again. haha

AND THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who sent me Christmas packages and letters. It made being away from home for Christmas a whole lot easier because I knew I was loved. So THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

The rest of this week has been really good. I talked about pretty much everything in my voice recording so I don't really want to repeat all my stories. But one thing I do want to talk about is a challenge we received from our Mission President to spend one personal study (an hour long) completely focused on the Savior and what He means to us and not to worry about anything else. I did this on Christmas morning and had an awesome experience. I studied The Living Christ and the hymn Savior Redeemer (look it up on YouTube.. It is so good!) The lyrics are so powerful and the Savior loves each of us so much and all He asks of each of us is to love Him and to follow Him.

I talked about a whole bunch more stuff in my voice recording so check that out. I love you all to the moon and back and I hope you had a great Christmas and I hope you have a very merry new year!!!!

Out of context quotes:

"You're getting in the wrong car..."

"Jesus drank wine."

"I also have Asian gas."

"Christmas cups" "Christmas puss? Why would it be Christmas puss?" "because It's red and green?" "EWWWWWWW!"

"I'm a bouncer not a counselor."

--
     -♥- Sister Reid