Conference week review

Hi Fambly!

This weekend was awesome.

Friday, we had our Zone Conference. We all got some really cool training from President Lindsay, helping us to be more effective at talking With people, rather than To them. :) Also, we'll be working with members more on inviting their friends- not to meet with the missionaries, right at first, but to ask questions, or just talk with them.

I thought it was a great idea, and then we got a second confirmation of it, during General Conference!

I thought conference was Amazing. However, the chapel here needs some repair work done on it's sound system. We spent the first half-hour of the broadcast trying to get the sound working. So none of the missionaries know what Elder Packer and President Monson said that morning. We're downloading it so we can watch it.

I think some of my favorite talks were by President Uchtdorf, during Priesthood Session, President Monson on Sunday Morning, and Elder Holland on Sunday Afternoon. I took lots of notes :) The Carters really enjoyed it as well. There were so many good messages! I think a lot of them were focusing on serving one another, and on Families.

So we're still working with Orlando and Mohia, preparing them for their baptism! Wednesday we went over and taught them about the Restoration. We were hoping to focus on the Book of Mormon, and commit them to begin reading it and praying together. It went over pretty well- The kids committed their family to read every morning and night, together. We talked to their mum on Sunday, and they've been doing it, too! They are awesome. And very excited. This weekend we're going to take them to another baptism thats happening so that they know what will happen at theirs.

It's definitely starting to cool down here. It's been sprinkling rain the past couple of days. :)

Yep, so it's been pretty good this week. This weekend we will be going up to Warwick, in Perth, to have a Mission Conference with Elder Ronald A. Rasband, of the Seventy. Cool.

I love you all!

Elder Reeder

Conference Week

Hello, everybody! Bit of a short week here :)

Elder Moore and I have been having some good opportunities in teaching in the last few days. Wednesday night, we went over to the Calder family's home, to continue teaching their children. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a good lesson, and the kids really paid good attention. We committed two of them to baptism! Orlando, who is 11, is very eager to be baptised. Mohia, who is 10, was a little bit shy, but he said yes. there is another baptism happening in the stake this weekend, and they're going to go see it. Bro. and Sis. Calder are sure that once they see one, they'll understand it more. We're excited! Their date is set for the 27th of April. Bro. Calder wants to do the baptisms, which would be a great example for the whole family.

Sunday night, we had a missionary fireside! Rockingham Stake gathered together for an Easter fireside, and there were a lot of non-members that came as well! It was an amazing night. Mandurah ward (South of Rockingham) was in charge. They have an AMAZING ward choir.

I'm excited for this week for two reasons, First of all- Zone Conference is coming up! It's always great to receive training from the Mission President. I always feel inspired after them.

Also, General Conference! The Carter family, who were baptised just a few months ago, are very excited to see the prophet for the first time. We've been helping them prepare for it.

Also, this sunday, we received news that we have a new ward mission leader! This is great news. His name is Brother Cotterell. We've only met him twice, and he's only been in Rockingham about two weeks, but I already like him. The first time he met us, he told us he was working on some referrals for us. The second time, he asked us if we could get him a Box of Books of Mormon!

By the way; How's everyone's member-missionary work going? :) That is truly The Best way to find and teach. Sharing the gospel with friends and aquaintences. I can testify of the blessings that it brings, to both you and your friend.

I love you all!

Elder Reeder

Rocking(ham) around the Easter Tree (In the West)

See what I did there ;)

So, Hi, everybody! Today is Wednesday! Since it was Easter weekend, our P-Day got moved from Monday to today.

So, it's the start of a new transfer! And guess where I am?

Back in the same district I left before Karratha! I'm serving in Rockingham West, right up against the coast. It's really nice. I got off the plane Tuesday and the weather was AWESOME. Somewhere in the vicinity of 26C :) I felt sorry for Elder Richmond, still up in Karratha. He was going to wait at the airport for his new companion, Elder Shin. But Elder Shin missed his first flight, and had to get one 2 hours later.

So my new companion's name is Elder Moore! Elder Moore is from New Zealand. He's pretty cool, and we get along really well. The district is great, too! The other missionaries are Elder Hall and Elder Quaresima, in Kwinana, and Elder Bennion and Elder Iumalo in Rockingham East.

We've been having some good opportunities to teach this week, too. Last night, we stopped by a potential he and his previous companion had found. Her name is Aleda. We had a good chat with her, and found out a little about her and her family. She told us that she's really going through a hard time right now, feeling a bit like she's stuck between a rock and a hard place. We were able to teach her about God, and how He has a plan for all of us, and that he really does care about us. She was interested, and said that we could come back in a couple of days, to tell her more.

We're also in the midst of teaching a family! The parents are members, but their younger kids are not. They've been less-active for some time, but they're starting to come back again. Cooler still, the oldest son told his dad that he wants to serve a mission! We're excited. We had a lesson with them last week, and tonight we're going to meet with them again, and commit them to baptism.

Easter Sunday was nice. We had some really good talks in Sacrament meeting. This coming sunday, we'll be having an Easter musical fireside.

We're all eager for the rest of the month, as well! Next Friday is a Zone Conference, with President Lindsay. Then Saturday and Sunday, we'll get to watch General Conference. Then the following Friday, there is a special Mission Conference planned. Elder Rasband will be visiting us and giving training.

Well, I'm excited for this week! I think we'll be getting some good things happening shortly.

Love you all :)

Elder Reeder

Off into the sunset (again)

Hi there! It's a beautiful, not-too-hot day here in Karratha, City of the Pilbara.

I've been here for about 4 1/2 months now. This morning, I got a call, though. I'm being transferred!

Pretty nice happenings, though; Remember David? (Korean member) The branch has been discussing ways to help him out with English, getting more out of church, etc. There is a missionary down in Perth, named Elder Shin. He's from Korea as well! So Elder Richmond and I emailed president Lindsay last week to see if he might be able to send Elder Shin up in the next little while. So this morning, when the Zone Leaders called, they said "Elder Reeder, you're going!" Where? "We don't know that yet. Or with who." Ok. And then they told us that Elder Shin was coming up here. Cool! This will be great for David, even better since he lives with a whole bunch of Koreans, who aren't members.

I still don't know where I'm going yet. But it'll be nice to be back in Perth, I have to admit. A lot cooler. I'll miss a lot of the members up here. It seriously is like one big family in this branch! And Elder Richmond and I have begun some good things, I think that they'll bring some wonderful results in the near future.

We had our English class this week! Our very first. I was very nervous, very stressed. I've never tried to teach an English class before, and especially not to someone who doesn't know much English. (Have you ever thought about it? English is insane, with all those little rules and exceptions. "I before E except after C, and sometimes in words like neighbor and weigh.") So with all these lovely thoughts, I decided I was going to be having a hard time getting through it all. But it's amazing what prayer can do to help. I prayed, and asked for help and calmness. I didn't feel instantly confident and all that, but I did feel more like I would be able to teach and talk with them.

It was a pretty good lesson, and now we know better where they are at, and how we can best help them.

I'm excited for Easter to be coming! I love this season. And General Conference, too!

I've got to go, my companion wants to use the computer.

Have a happy week :)

Love,

Elder Reeder

Winter is Coming

Hello, everybody!

We heard from some other missionaries this week, down in Bridgetown (near the bottom of Australia) it was 6C. It sounded wonderful. With winter coming along soon, with its change in temperature, Elder Richmond and I will have some more service opportunities, as well as some upcoming branch activities, to which we can invite people to come along to. It's actually pretty cool; A recent convert in the branch began taking the lessons in the first place because a friend had invited him to come play volleyball. He was very impressed with the way the members acted (language, behavior, etc.) that he wanted to learn more.

Elder Richmond and I had a pretty good week. We were able to teach Carlo again. We've been teaching him about the Book of Mormon, and we talked about prayer, and why it's important to pray about the book of mormon. We committed him to do so. He seemed very sure, and willing to do so. He's a really cool guy, and a lot of the branch knows and likes him. We were excited to see him on Sunday, but he texted us and told us that he was going elsewhere that day.

We also had a cool experience with one of the french guys. (He's from Turkey, actually.) He is muslim, and normally he's making jokes about us, etc. But Saturday, he sat down with Elder Richmond, becuase he had some questions about what we actually believe in. It was really cool! He was very serious, no jokes or anything. Elder Richmond was able to teach him about prophets, and about a lot of the plan of salvation. Before we left, the guy told us "We will talk more about this later. I would like to know more about you guys." Wow! Small seeds are being spread here :) I'm confident they'll sprout someday, if not now. We also gave a book of mormon to a guy from Germany, named Phil. He's cool.

This week is the last week of the transfer! I wish not, but I might be transferred back down to Perth. I'll go where I'm needed, though :) Man, the time is flying by very quickly.

I love you all! Have a great day!

Elder Reeder

[Kris] sent Daniel this shirt for his birthday.

Also sent this random dragon toy. Yay!

The March on March

Hello, everyone! Today is March 11th, 2013.

So several things have happened!

This week started out rather slow. We've got a few good investigators now, and we're really excited about them. The hard part here, though, is getting in to see them. Appointments continue to fall through. Zayden and his family, especially, we've been trying to see.

On Thursday, we met with Eliezer again! (In case you don't remember, Eliezer's from Cuba.) We invited him to come to church, and he was really sure he'd be there. Cool.

Sunday, we arrived at the chapel to get ready for the meetings. Some members arrived, including a new guy from New Zealand. His name is Ammon. He served a mission in the Phillipines a while back. While we're talking, Eliezer came in, which was exciting. He was happy to be able to come. At the same time, Carlo came in as well! It was so cool. Even better, Ammon became instant friends with him, since they both speak Tagalog. I love it when that happens. It was a good sunday.

We're still working with the french guys, Kilian, Anthony, etc. We Really want to do an english class with them, and they do too, but we've got to figure out how to do it first.

I think the hottest day this week, or even this summer, was Wednesday. 47C. (116F) Nuts.

This week is going to be cool. (relatively speaking.) Elder Richmond and I are eager to meet with Eliezer and Carlo again :) The branch really liked them.

Love, Elder Reeder

One Year and Counting

Hey there! Today is March 4th, and I have officially been out for one year. Incredible! And I agree, the time is going very fast indeed. :O

We've had a somewhat eventful week up here in Karratha. Rusty, a Category 4 cyclone, sent us some welcome clouds and wind. It also narrowly missed Port Hedland, which is about an hour north.

Also, today is Labor Day. Sunday was very quiet, since many people took advantage of the long weekend and left. We almost had a lesson with Zayden and his family this week, but they had to cancel, and then left town themselves. They're coming back today, though, and told us to come by this afternoon. So we're going to go by this afternoon.

We keep running into Anthony and Kilian, those two french guys Elder Richmond met. They're really cool, and I think they're interested in coming to church at some point. I don't speak french very well yet, ;) but they seem pretty keen. We're still working with Carlo, as well.

So, the past little while, we've been getting quite a few people swearing at us from their cars, telling us "Go get a real job," etc. as well as a few letters saying similar delivered to the chapel. I would just like to take this opportunity to say that I know that there is NO better place that I could be right now, than here. I Know that what I am doing is what my Heavenly Father wants me to be doing, that is, going around and sharing the truths of the gospel with everyone around me.

I love you all :)

Elder Reeder