Random Adventures

Monday we all got together, per Sister Reed's requests once it was her

birthday that week. We hung out, played some signs and ultimate

frisbee, and basically had a lot of fun. Then we grabbed a bit to eat

and went back up north. Then we went to the Triangle to go see why

nobody came to church. We couldn't really find anyone home, but we did

give one of our investigators a blessing, which was a cool experience.

Then we went up to Bro. I's house for dinner and family home

evening. He had invited some other families over too, so it was a full

house! We had a good time there too, and gave 2 more people blessings.

It was cool to be able to use the priesthood so much. Then we went

home and let the other elders in to spend the night, since there was

no running water at their complex for the day.

Tuesday was Specialized Training, which was super good! We have been

working a lot on presenting the lessons in a simple and short way, and

we talked a lot about that. Then, we went out to practice what we

learned with people! I got put in a pretty upper-class neighborhood.

Not many people were home, but we did manage to see a few people. We

got a surprise when we came back: Elder Reed came to visit! Elder Reed

was basically the technical genius of the mission. He was an office

elder for a year, and got everything organized for the iPads when they

came. He is also a pro beat boxer and standup comedian by trade. It

was a great skill set. So that was cool to see him again! After that,

we drove to go to some follow up appointments, but no one was home.

Then we picked up the APs truck for Wednesday, and had dinner with the

Hs. It was really good,  we had a good talk with her fiancée,

Bro. V about how he joined the church.

Wednesday was an adventure! We left early and headed off to Little

Rock. Elder Moore hadn't been there aside from meetings, so he was

pretty stoked. We made good time, and we stopped by my old apartment

to pick up Elder Diaz and my "son" (it's great, Diaz and I had a kid

together! :P) so they could borrow the car. As it happened, they were

supposed to have the truck that week but due to my appointment they

couldn't have one at all. So, out of pity we let them have it. It was

great to see them again! Moore is doing great, he and Diaz are having

a lot of fun there. So we went to the dentist. My temporary crown had

fallen out literally the night before, so it went pretty quickly. We

waited around for the other guys to bring the car back, and then we

drove to Memphis again. It was a long day in the car, but it was still

fun. Then we got to see some referrals and find some new people, which

was great!

Thursday was pretty good, but very all over the place. We saw

F. He moved the week before to another friend's house in a more

stable neighborhood, which is good. So we met his friend T 

and her 5 kids. They are super hyper, but

pretty cool. She also had a lot of cats, which set off my allergies

pretty bad. After them we tried to do some finding, but didn't have

much luck until later that night. We stopped to see W, this super

cool lady we found last week. She wasn't home, but her niece M

was! She is also really really awesome.   She is 20 and just moved to

the States a few months ago. She's going through some rough stuff

right now, but she handles it really well. We are excited to work with

them.

Friday we went back to the Triangle to continue our process of weaning

everyone off of us and onto the other guys. I don't remember a lot.

The allergies disguised a cold I was coming down with, so e next

morning I had slept about 3 hours and was dead tired. We did have a

super good lesson with L though! She is the daughter of one of our

investigators, and she is really interested. She is reading the Book

of Mormon and has a lot of questions, which we are happy to answer :)

After that we had dinner with the Rs, which was delicious. They

make some really good homemade pancakes, I will have to steal the

recipe. Anyway, then Bro. I came and went out teaching it's

us. That man is awesome. He is a huge joker a lot of the time, but he

also loves the people to death. MIRACLE OF THE WEEK: We had been

thinking of seeing this one man named D that they had met a long

time ago, but hadn't seen. Another appointment had fallen through and

we both felt we should go there. When we told Bro. I, he said,

"oh, you mean D so-and-so? I've been friends with him since I

lived in Honduras. He'll let us in." Turns out, not only were they

friends, but he had talked with him ALL THE TIME about the gospel. God

knows stuff, guys. He runs our work.

Saturday involved a lot of driving everywhere. First, we tried going

to see W and M with the H's daughter, but they

weren't home. That was sad, since we had a set appointment with them.

But she bought us Sonic for lunch, which helped.  She is really cool

too. :) After that, we went and printed some stuff off for he branch

activity that night. They were doing a Family History night, and so

everyone was told to bring a board with information on one of their

ancestors. I picked Daniel W. Jones, mainly because I already knew a

bit about him. As it turns out, he was one of the FIRST group of

Spanish missionaries ever! They went to Mexico to go set up the church

there. Kinda cool, Spanish missionaries are in my blood on BOTH sides!

:) So we did that really quick, then we went to go invite F and

T. She couldn't come, but her kids wanted to! We said that would

be good, thinking that it was an "activity" it would be pretty fun. As

it turned out, it was actually much more of an adult thing. But,

F and his 5 little friends still came! It was a good event, and

PROPS to Elder Moore for keeping 5 kids under the age of 9 entertained

for an hour with a pocket notebook and a box of Tic Tacs. I do t know

how he did it.

Sunday was good too! Four of the 5 kids came, which was great. I gave

a talk, which I had been assigned to do he night before (thanks Pres.

P) and it went pretty well. After church we saw the kids and

F again so we could get permission from their mom to teach them.

She said it was fine, even though she isn't too interested. She wants

her kids to grow up in a church, though. After that we did some

finding, with limited success. We did stop in and see M for a

minute, just missing W as she left. Other than that, nothing

really happened. Oh, and we also made no-bake cookies. Shout out to

Anjilee Amos for sending the recipe, they are SUPER good. My companion

sends his heartfelt thanks as well. :)

Hope you all had a fantabulous week! Enjoy the fall, while you can! I

sure will!

I love you all!

Elder Reay

Pic: Saying goodbye to 2 of the Konway gang! Elder Mitchell and Sister

Armstrong. It's weird seeing Armstrong go, she is he first sister I

have seen start and finish her mission.