Andrew's Address

andrew.reay@myldsmail.net

Elder Andrew Reay
2250 Meadow Glade Ln.
Apt. 1
Memphis, TN 38134

Or:
Elder Andrew Reay
Arkansas Little Rock Mission
905 Kierre Drive
North Little Rock, AR 72216-3709

Monday, October 26, 2015

Bread, Baptism, and... Something else that starts with B



Monday was a TON of fun. We went to Shelby Farms, this big farm/nature
park by our place. The six of us had planned to go watch the buffalo
or something. Elder Heaton and Elder Spencer were late, so the rest of
us started hiking this random trail by our car. Somewhere along the
way, Lord of the Rings was brought up, and before long all of us had
found appropriately sized sticks and it was a quest. The others got
there, gave us a funny look, and then joined in. We had a pretty great
time adventuring around and stuff. There were a lot of trails that
went off the main one, so of course we went exploring all over the
place, all in character. It was a good de-stresser. Then we had some
Steak N' Shake and went back to work. We had a good lesson with Y.
We had thought his name was J, but I guess we had been wrong the
whole time. Then, we went to Family Home Evening at Bro. L's house.
A few other families came too, so it was packed. We had a good time,
and a good lesson too!

Tuesday was district meeting. We talked a lot about how to help people
feel comfortable praying. That is a common problem for Spanish
missionaries. I have no idea why, but the people we teach seem to be
very shy when it comes to saying a prayer, usually because "they don't
know how." So we focused on how to teach them that it's really easy!
We consider prayer as the way we can talk with God. We can tell him
anything we want! He is our Heavenly Father! He wants to hear how his
kids' day went! So that was good. After that, we all kind of
scattered. President Wakolo sent out both sets of other elders to go
"scout out" new areas for Spanish to go. South went to Oxford,
Mississippi, and East went to Jackson, Tennessee, which left us alone!
Before East left, R, one of Moore's investigator friends from
Jackson, came down and had lunch with us. Then he took the other guys
and we went to work. We tried a few people, and met some more. Then we
had dinner at the Hs, which was super delicious. Then we went
to W's house to go see them. It was just her husband J and
M, but we just taught them anyway. About halfway through,
J's brother A came in, so we summarized what we had talked
about and kept going. Then, about two minutes later W, her kids,
and another guy came in! So, we summarized AGAIN and finished the
lesson. They seemed really interested, so hopefully they read and pray
about it! Then we drove back down to the church to substitute for the
elders at English class. The sisters were there, too, and some members
and investigators. It was really fun! I never realized how hard
English was for them.

Wednesday was crazy. We had planned to get the oil changed, but they
were full so e couldn't. Then we took Moore's bike to the shop to see
if they could fix it. Turns out his axle was broken, and it fell apart
as soon as he looked at it. So he got a new wheel and we kept going.
We tried a few people with limited success. Then Sis. P called us
to pick up some bread. Sometimes she gets the leftover bread from
Panera (Paradise Bakery sort of thing) and gives it to us to eat and
share with people. Normally it's a garbage bag full, which is a ton.
This time it was 3 bags and a big tote box full of cookies and muffins
and stuff. It was a LOT. So we took all that home, gave a third to the
Rs to take south, and put the rest in ziploc bags to distribute.
We had about 30 gallon-size bags stuffed with dread and bagels and
muffins and Danishes and goodness like that. Our freezer is full right
now. :P We actually found a lot of success giving it out too! Bagels
are an excellent way to soften hearts. Life lesson there :P





Thursday we biked out to F's since our car had been kinda
overused, and we didn't want it to die on us due to the oil. We had a
really good lesson with him, it really stuck with him and he
remembered it, which is something we had been praying to know how to
do. Then we biked down to the Triangle again. Our plans have sort of
changed with the Triangle. When we went there to do the "breakups," a
few of the people actually got more solid than before. So, we plan on
seeing them still, just not doing much else down there unless we need
to. So, we went and saw Y, aka J. He actually committed to
come to church! Woo! Then we saw F, but she was a little busy so
we didn't say much. Then we biked back up to the Vs house for
dinner, which was super good. Sis. V can cook really well. After
them we drove out to see a recent convert that had recently moved up
to our area named E. We couldn't go in (no guys in the house)
but we did get to meet her and talk for a bit. She is really nice.

Not much happened Friday but it was good stuff! We got the oil
changed, which took a bit longer than expected, so we hurried
afterwards to go see some new areas. It was pretty successful, we
found some cool people! Then we biked down to the T's
neighborhood to contact a referral there. Neither of us had tried
going there before. We got there and started looking for the house,
but couldn't find it. Some kids asked us what we were looking for, and
we told them Hispanic families. So, they pointed out every house. It
was great. We only tried one, and it was a SUPER cool family. The wife
had listened to missionaries before. We had a sweet lesson with them.
But then it was late so we biked home.

Saturday was crazy. So, our original plan had been to go teach for a
bit, then get the other elders to have lunch with a less active lady
who wanted to feed us, then do some  more appointments. Well, about an
hour before, she texted and said it would be an hour and a half later.
When we told the others, they said they couldn't because there was a
baptism that we didn't really know about that was happening. Everyone
else in the branch was going to it too, so we felt we should go. So,
we went to the lady's house to invite her too. She actually had the
food ready, so we just ate there anyway. Then we went to the baptismal
service, which was good. Lots of kids though, it got kinda crazy. :P
Then we went back and went out teaching with President P! It was
great. We met some more cool people with him, and then he took us to
try out this taco cart. It was pretty good.

Sunday was great. Y came to church!! He seemed to like it too. We
went to the youth Sunday School class with him, since we thought it
would be in English and we'd need to translate, like usual. It turned
out they had a sub who only spoke Spanish so we ended up translating
for Bro. Rs' kids. They came to church too! It was great to see
them again! After that we went to the triangle again to make another
attempt at giving our investigators to the other guys, but no luck. We
had dinner at the Rs' house, which was really good. The girls
had bought this huge sheet of home button covers for Apple stuff, so
we all got one. Mine is pretty classy, it's a bow tie with little tux
shirt buttons underneath. #classy Then we saw F. He's been
going through some rough stuff, so pray for him please. We couldn't
talk to him much.

And there you have it folks. I will see you later! 3 months to the
day, actually. 😬😱 eew. Bye!
Pics:
The Fellowship of the Frisbee! (Feel free to Instagram this. It's
about the coolest picture out there now. :P)



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