Fun Family Home Evening

Someone really needs to teach me how to blog, I wanted labels on pictures, it took me two times to even get these in the right order!! Oh well!!
I have found as your children get older, it is easy to forget to do the fun things that you did when they were younger!! So, we invited the Eisenhauers over to make gingerbread houses for Family Home Evening!!! Hunter wanted to turn this into a competition, thankfully we had no judges available!!! You be the judge!!!
Since I don't know how to label pictures:
House #1 is Bart and Cindy's
House #2 is Bruce and Lorene's
House #3 is Hunter, Rhegan, and Carrie's
And for the finale, some friendly pool!!

More from Mexico

Hey everyone!
So this week was good. Anyways, mom, yes I´m finally starting to like the food. You get used to eating stuff you don´t like, and I´m starting to gag a lot less when I eat hahaha. Thanks for that wonderful trait mom. =) So ya things are going good. We´ve been working super hard and finding lots of new people. The only down side is the majority of the new people we find, end up not being so great. So ya, it´s easy to find people, you just really need the spirit to find the GOOD ones. Something I need to work on. This country is so crazy. I absolutely love it and especially all the amazing people. ALMOST everyone is so nice and accepting. It just blows my mind to see the happiness the members have here. Even though they don´t have much, they see that family is really what´s important, and aren´t so focused on all the wordly things. I definitely count my many many blessings every day and thank the Lord for the oppurtunity to live where we do. Anyways, I´m out of time again, but I hope you all know how much I love you and miss you. I hope you all have a great christmas. Can´t wait to talk to you guys and see how things are goin. O and I´ll send pictures next week. The computer I´m on is super slow so I can´t do it now. Love you guys, talk to you soon!


I just wanted to send you a few pictures of the last week. That´s Miguel the awesome guy we baptized. And the other ones are of "el Guarda". It´s a church owned ranch where people can go to camp and do cool stuff. They had a sweet zip line so that´s the one with the person hitting the net. It hurt really bad to get stopped by that thing. Also the elder in the green jersey is our zone leader Elder Fillerup. He´s awesome. We bought a ton of tacos al pastor to eat there so it was pretty sweet. Also the other one is of our whole zone. It´s from pretty far away but I think it´s ok. You can play Where´s Waldo and search for me. I´m the only good lookin one so it shouldn´t be too hard. = )

"Freedom Isn't Free"

I hope I can adequately express my feelings that I have had this past weekend. Riley returned to the states from Iraq on Dec. 5th, after being deployed for 14 months. Bart and I felt like we should be there for the homecoming celebration!!! Our flight from Atlanta to Savannah was quite a humbling experience for us. After we took off, we were told that when we landed in Savannah we were to remain seated as an Army escort was accompanying the remains of a soldier returning home. I spent the next hour crying for a family who would not see their son alive, knowing that mine was returning safely. On the base where the celebration was to happen, they have planted a tree for each soldier who has lost his or her life in Iraq. Many of the plaques around the trees had the saying "Freedom Isn't Free". Needless to say, I contemplated the meaning of this statement. After a long wait, the soldiers unloaded the buses and marched onto a field where we all sang our National Anthem, as I sang the words and thought about them, I was brought to tears once again for the sacrifices these soldiers and others are making for us, so that we can enjoy this land that we are so blessed to live in and the freedoms that are ours for the partaking. The soldiers then sang a song and we were told to go find our soldier!!! We spent the next couple of days with Riley shopping, meeting his buddies, eating, and watching him sleep!! He hasn't shared many of his experiences in Iraq, I think he didn't want to worry his mother, thank you son, but as he opened up and shared with us this weekend, I thank my Heavenly Father that he protected my son, and I know he was protected. So to Riley and all the other soldiers serving our country, Thank You from the bottom of my heart. "Freedom Isn't Free"!!!

News from Mexico

Hey Everyone!
I can´t tell you how good it was to hear from everyone this week. I´m glad everyone is doing so good. That picture of the fam at the Eagles game killed me a little bit. Also thinking about Thanksgiving dinner is making me miss home a bit right now. Not really, it´s just I would kill for that food right now! = ) They don´t have Thanksgiving here so I didn´t even know when it was. All the missionaries in the district meeting were debating about when it was cuz we really have no clue. Anyways, I´m glad you guys had a good time in Philly and got to see the Zollingers. Those kids are huge. Anyways, ya this week went a bit better than the last. I guess I just have to get used to it a bit more. That first week with the new comp killed me. I have never been so dead in my life. But this past week was better. We´re doing better and getting used to teaching with eachother. That´s probably been the hardest thing, with my first comp he did almost everything, even most the teaching, but now its the exact opposite. It´s amazing how fast you learn when you don´t have someone there to bail you out of dumb things you do. So ya, we´ve just been working like crazy. This last week was the end of the month and we´re always a bit short on money at the end of the month so we walked SO much! My comp got a nice blister so he´s walking a bit slow right now. It´s been kinda difficult to bond with him. He´s not like me at all. But we´ve talked and I think we´ll do better and be more unified this week. He just isn´t very excited and doesn´t like to have very much fun. Kinda boring actually. So it´s just hard to be myself when I´m not lauging all the time. But ya, this week we got all the references from the Open House in the temple, because all the people who aren´t members filled out their address and stuff, and we´ve been visiting all of them and the majority of them are GOLD. The experience they had in the temple really made them realize how awesome and true our church is and they´re all accepting baptismal dates like crazy. So that´s been pretty nice. Umm, what else, nothing I guess. Tell everyone I say hi and I love and miss them. Always remember that this is the Church of Christ. If we´re going to be members of his church we better be ready to face some challenges. What we go through is so small compared to what our Savior did for us. That´s something I heard in a talk by Elder Holland in the MTC and it´s really helped me accept all the hard work. Anyways, I love you all and hope all is well.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We have had an awesome week!!! Bart, Rhegan, and I went to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving!! You all know that my brother-in-law coaches the Eagles football team!! We had amazing seats (a warm box), lots of food (ribs, wings, and dippin dots), and of course the best part was beating the Cardinals!!! Congratulations Uncle Andy for a great win, keep it up!! We also went to New York and saw "The Little Mermaid" on Broadway. I loved the show!!! We were able to stop by and see the Zollinger family, they used to be in our ward and we loved seeing them so much!!! We really miss them. Bart and I are leaving this week to see Riley arrive home from Iraq, we are so grateful that he has been protected this year while serving his country. He will be able to come home Dec. 24th to spend Christmas with us!! Can't forget Rees, he is doing an awesome job in Mexico on his mission!! We are so blessed and I am so grateful for this time of year when we stop and take time to recognize our blessings and more importantly to recognize the Lord's hand in our lives!!!

Feelin Good!!!

O.K., I just have to say that I got some new jeans in a size I haven't worn for a way long time, that is definitely something to feel good about!!! It helps to have Julianne tell me that I can wear things that aren't baggy all the time!! I don't like things too tight!! It helps having Lorene encourage me to hike and eat better!! It helps to have Tara yell at me at aerobics for being a slacker!!! Not sure if it helps that Rhegan says I need a new bra to hold me up so I am not such a saggy boob!!! Gotta love the honesty!!
Other good news is that Riley called and his group is packing up and should leave Iraq at the end of the month. He will get to Georgia the first week of December and hopefully be home for Christmas, Rhegan is happy about that, she doesn't like being an only child.
This weekend I was able to go the the rededication of the Mexico City Temple. It was an awesome experience. I loved hearing from our prophet and my testimony was strenghtened. On Saturday night they had a cultual event that was amazing, I was hoping to get a glimpse of Rees when they had all of the missionaries on the field, but I didn't. Cooper kept asking me "Where's Rees?" I'm o.k. with that because I know he was there. I am including his letter from yesterday, wow, what an awesome missionary he is!!

Mom and Pops,
Hows everything goin at home? I hope all is well. I´m so glad you guys got to watch the event and rededication. Did you only see one of the sessions of the rededication? If so, which one? We got to see both and they were both so amazing. We are so blessed to have a living prophet to guide us. I can´t tell you how powerful it was when he walked into that HUGE stadium. He filled that stadium to the top with his Spirit and no one there could deny that that man is a prophet of God. That event was something I will never ever forget. And something that I will always look to for inspiration and remembrance of the Spirit of the people here in Mexico. So we got to the stadium and met up with the whole mission, and then President Bulloch gave us our ties, handkerchiefs, and ticket for the event. Then we went in and sat down and had to wait quite a while for the event to start. Everyone was so excited and so anxious. We thought we were going to have awesome seats because we were in the second to front row of the stadium, but when we sat down we realized that our seats sucked because all the props of the dances were right in front of us. And there is a huge barbed wire fence to keep the crazy fans from killing their soccer players, and that messed up our vision too. But it all turned out ok. Well more than ok. When we got to go out onto the field and sing and wave at the prophet, I was completely overwhelmed. I can´t believe that you guys didn´t see me because we were in the very front row, and directly in front of the prophet. I saw us quite a few times on the big screen so I figured you guys would have seen me. But anyways, what an amazing experience it was to be in the middle of that huge stadium, everyone cheering and singing, and the prophet and Henry B. waiving their handkerchiefs and crying. I just can´t even find the words to tell you guys how amazing it was, and how lucky I am to have had that experience. I am so happy that you guys got to watch it and see how awesome it is here. These people are so amazing. I don’t know if you saw the session of the rededication when President Monson said that it was the best he´s ever seen…. But ya, it was spectacular. I have really been reminded of how much I´ve taken for granted the prophet all my life. I should have been feasting upon his words and the words of the other leaders of the church in my youth. We have so much to learn and know in this life, and those men are how we´re going to know. The spirit and knowledge they help us gain is such a huge blessing that we have to take advantage of. I love you all so much and am so happy to hear you saw the event and rededication. I hope all is going well at home and that everyone is happy and healthy. Anyways, a bit of news from me, I will be having changes tomorrow. My companion has been in this area for 8 months and its time for him to go. So I´m quite nervous because I also found out that I´m going to train a new elder and I´m going to be district leader… My mind is just goin nuts right now. I hope I´ll be able to do a good job. I´ll let you guys know how it goes. But I´ve been thinking a lot about what it says in my patriarchal blessing about my mission. I know the Lord will help me and provide a way for me to do well. I love you all and am happy to hear all is well. Take care and keep sending lots of emails. I love hearing from everyone. Adios.

Cheer Competition

We had a fun day with Rhegan's first cheer competition.
Check out the video. Sandra Day O'Conner High School came in 2nd and qualified for state.

Letter from Rees

I am posting this for Cindy as she is gone on a cruise (LUCKY)!
-Julianne-

Hey everyone,
Mom and Dad I hope you guys are having a blast on your cruise! I normally would be jealous but I´m enjoying the poverty right now. It´s amazing to see how happy these people even though they have so litlle. So this week was pretty awesome. We got to work at the temple for the open house and it was so cool. We got to work in parking for part of the time and that was super fun! So I´m pretty excited for the upcoming rededication and cultural event. I´m so excited that you all get to watch it. Anyways, there really isn´t much to write about because we spent most of our time at the temple this week. We are so so blessed to be able to go the House of the Lord so often. I took for granted the oppurtunity to go each week in the MTC. I miss being able to feel so close to the Savior. Remember how lucky we are to have temples and remember to go OFTEN. I love you all and hope all is well. Sorry this is so short, keep emailing!

News from Mexico

Hey,
Mom I am so happy to hear that Riley will be home by Christmas, and that Tylar got to be baptized. But I´m especially happy to hear that the Eagles won yesterday!!!! No I´m just kidding. Thanks for letting me know, I love to hear everything that´s going on. That´s awesome that you guys will get to see the rededication of the temple and the cultural event! It´s going to be so awesome. All the missionaries from like 6 missions are going to sit in 2 sections of the stadium and we´re all going to sing (don´t know what song). And we´re all going to receive special Mexico City East Mission ties and handkerchiefs (?). So it should be really cool. We don´t get to go to the rededication but we´re all going to watch it in the stake center. But I´m super excited that you guys can see it because it is gonna be sweet. This week we´re going to be working in the temple for the open house so that should be fun. My companion has been quite interesting lately. He does a lot of things that bug the heck out of me; but it has actually been a blessing because I can´t tell you how much patience I have developed = ). There is a section in Preach My Gospel about developing Christlike attributes and it says that we can´t do that without the help of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And that is one thing I have really gained a testimony of this week. When I just react before I think about what the Savior would do I end up being rude and hurting my relationship with my companion. But this week I have learned that I need to stop and think, and then act. The Savior blesses me with feelings of love and patience for my companion. Sorry that I don´t have much time, I have to go get my haircut because we´re going to be working at the temple this week. I love you all and hope all is well at home. Sorry this is so short. Love, Rees P.S. Dad when I read about you crashing on your bike I was surprised that I wasn´t laughing. My heart has definitely been softened. I hope you didn´t break any bones in that old body. = ) JK Love you dad.

Homecoming Week

Homecoming was this week for O'Connor High School. Rhegan had a fun week decorating the school, practicing cheers and dances, and dressing up for the dance. Her friend, Hunter, did something cute for her everyday!! Thanks Hunter!!!

I Love Mondays!!!

I love Mondays because I get to hear amazing experiences from Rees!!! A special thank you to those who e-mail my boys!!!

Here is his letter: the dangerous part in the letter was a shooting near his apartment!!!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to say thank you all for the great emails. I love hearing from everyone and how everything is going. Sorry I can´t email everyone cuz I can only email family but I´ll try and throw in answers to some questions from everyone. This week was great. We got to baptize 3 people! Hector, Alexis, y Areli. It´s been amazing to see the changes in people´s lives. We are so blessed to be members of this Church. So ya, it it pretty dangerous, dad you said that Tracee told you about those two things. It´s not like horrible, only in some areas. Me and another american (our zone leader) did divisions the other day and the people didn´t seem to like that much. We knocked a ton of doors and everyone was super rude. They were all tellin us to go back to our country and to quit lying to the people here. But normally they are super super nice and always give us water and let us teach them. But ya, that day I didn´t feel very safe cuz two americans working together here isn´t the greatest idea, but it all went ok. O ya, I bought a really cheap watch, just in case we got robbed that day = ). But we didn´t, so now I have another watch. Ya I But ya, everything is going good. Friday we organized a family home evening for all the members. We had a couple baptisms and we made a little video for everyone to laugh at, and then we all ate tacos. We bought a ton of meat from the taco guys by our house and they were freakin good. It was super fun and I think all the members liked it. The ward here is awesome (well we have two wards). The members are so nice and so friendly. They feed us lunch everyday and always help me with the spanish. And in return I help all their kids with their english homework = ). That´s always fun. The retention here isn´t so great. That´s definitely one of the biggest problems. Missionaries are good friends with their investigators and are always helping them come to church and to activities, but when the missionaries change areas, the people stop going because they don´t get visits every week. So it´s definitely a challenge. The thing you have to think about is how you can teach them to rely on the Lord now. How to learn from the Book of Mormom and rely on the Spirit. Because when you leave, they need something to help them, and it needs to be the Lord. That´s definitely something I need to do better at, teach people to rely on the Lord and be independent. The people here are amazing I am so blessed to be able to work with them and learn from them. They are very different than us, but they are great. I love you all and hope everyone is doing good. I gotta go, sorry I don´t have time to write more. Love you all! O, tell Jules I got her photos and thank you! O, and the dear elders take about the same time as normal letters, so just do those cuz I´m sure it´s much easier.

Another Amazing Letter from Rees

Ok, so this week was good. The weeks seriously go by like days. Before I know it it´s the end of the week and we´re in sacrament meeting again. I´m not sure if time is going fast for you guys but I can´t believe it´s already almost been 4 months! Christmas is already creeping up and that will be 6 months! So, the re-dedication of the temple here is the 16th of November, and the open house for the temple is from the 20th of this month until the 8th of November. We are going to do the tours and stuff so that should be pretty exciting. Also, on the 15th, they are going to have a big culture night in the big stadium here so that should be cool. The prophet is gonna be there and all the youth in like all the stakes are gonna do this huge dance, and 8 missions from mexico are gonna be there and we´re all going to sing. Ya, it´s gonna be pretty cool. You should see if there is any way you guys can watch it. That would be super sweet. So ya, we´re all super excited for that. Anyways, we got to baptize a kid Omar this past Sunday. He´s 18 years old and he´s super cool. He loves learning about the Gospel. He was nervous for his baptism but after, he was so happy and was saying how great he felt. I just can´t explain how amazing it is to see people receive a remission of their sins. So when Dalin H. Oaks spoke to us in the MTC, he talked about how important the sacrament is for missionaries. It has really hit me since I´ve been here, how amazing it really is. It´s just like a baptism for a new convert. All their lives they´ve had sins and problems, and each one is like putting a little rock in their shoe, and then when they´re baptized they can just dump all the rocks out. I feel the same way about the sacrament. All week we work and work and things just build up, and it is amazing to take the sacrament and just feel relieved. Elder Oaks talked about how we can´t teach without the spirit, and we can´t have the spirit if we´re not worthy, and the sacramnet is how we stay worthy. It is so true, but not only for missionaries, but for everyone. Every week we get the chance to renew our convenants witht he Lord and feel that cleansing power again; it is such an amazing gift we have from the Lord. Anyways, that´s about it. I love you all and hope all is going well at home. Check and see if you can watch the thing the night before the re-dedication. It will be super amazing. Take care. and tell everyone I say hi. Love you all.

Thoughts from Me

My HOT daughter-taken by Julia

I'm not good at writing personal things, but I'm feeling very blessed today and wanted to share my feelings!! This weekend was awesome!! I loved conference so much, I think the talks were just for me. I am so grateful for my testimony of the Savior, Jesus Christ, and for His atoning sacrifice for me. I am thankful for a father who listened to seven sets of missionaries and then joined the church. I am thankful for a mother who was a great example of service to me. I am thankful for my six siblings and their examples and love for me. I am thankful for a husband, that's you Bart, who honors his priesthood and is such a good husband to me and father to his children. I am thankful for Riley, who is serving his country, so we can enjoy the freedoms that we have in the USA!!! He is an amazing person with the kindest heart!!! I am thankful for Rees, who is serving his Savior, so that others can enjoy the blessings of the gospel in their life. Rees is so right, FAMILY IS EVERYTHING-THEY BRING US THE GREATEST JOY!!! He is such a good example to me of happiness and obedience!! And last, but not least, I am thankful for Rhegan, she has so much personality, she is so committed to reading her scriptures and saying her prayers. She makes every day a FUN day!! I can't forget ALL of my amazing friends. Thank you all for being my friends and for letting us love on your little ones, we love babies!!! LIFE IS GREAT!!!!

Letter from Rees

Hey, how´s everything going? I hope everything is well. I´m sure it is. Thanks everyone for the awesome emails. I´m sorry that I can´t email everyone back but please keep emailing because I love to hear from everyone. So, this week was a bit different than normal. My comp was very sick monday thru wednesday, and then I was sick thursday thru saturday. It was pretty sucky. But we still had a great week. Conference was good (from what I understood) = ). We watched it in the stake center and there was hardly anyone there for both saturday sessions. But then on sunday morning there was seriously like a thousand people. They filled every room, hallway, and even set up a huge tent in the parking lot with tv´s in it. And then for sunday afternoon, no one came. So I´m guessing that the sunday morning session is the most important to them. But personally, I love the last last session. The prophet always leaves such a great testimony. I have definitely had my testimony of our living prophet strengthened this weekend. The other thing that I have really noticed lately is how important the family is. We baptised the brother of Billy, who was baptized a couple weeks ago. And their mom was just super emotional every time we visited them this week. When we invited them to conference (she´s not a member by the way), she was like, can you invite my other son too? We had never met him before cuz he doesn´t live there, but you can just tell that she wants all of her kids to have that same joy that the others do now. And then today, we were washing our laundry, and we always do it at this lady´s house, and she´s not a member either, and while we were there she was like, there is nothing good in this life... And I was just like, what? Of course there is! And she asked what, and the first thing that popped into my head was family. She has kids but no husband or anything. But it just hit me so hard, our families are everything. That´s where we experience all the joyful things in life. It´s not at work or at school or when we´re alone; it´s when we´re all together as a family. How lucky are we to be able to live with our families for eternity? Anyways, just thought I´d say that. That´s about all, I gotta get going cuz we´re gonna meet our district leader for tacos cuz he´s changing areas tomorrow. Tomorrow is cambios, or exchanges, but we´re not changing so ya.... I love you all and I hope everyone is doing good. Hope to hear from you all soon!

Letter from Rees

Hey everyone! I hope all is well. Everything is going good here. Thanks everyone for all the emails. I love to hear how everything´s going. So this week I got to baptize another pregnate girl. In case you didn´t know the first one was pregnate too. Her name is Viridiana and her family is all members but only her mom is active. Her mom was the only one of her family at her baptism, but her joy made up for the others not being there. I can´t even describe how amazing it is to feel the Spirit during a baptism. It is unbelievable how strong it is. One thing that a speaker told us in a talk in the MTC is that the forgiveness of sins is the greatest miracle on earth. And it is so true. There is nothing more amazing than seeing someone become clean from everything. The spanish is finally coming. I can finally actually talk to people when we visit them. Before I would just sit there and listen, but now I´m actually involved in the conversation. So that´s good. It´s really fun to talk to people and then after, I try and think about what I said but I have no idea. The words are just starting to come. Everyone new I talk to always comments how they have noticed how fast missionaries learn the language, and that´s a perfect way to start teaching. Anyways, I´m rambling quite a bit. So I forgot to tell you in my last letter about the wonderful meal I ate. It´s called ´´patas de res´´. And it´s cow feet! Ya, you guessed it, nasty! haha The taste of it actually wasn´t too bad, but it was like eating rubber. I couldn´t chew it. And I knew it was something different because everyone was talking about it but I just tuned them out so I wouldn´t hear what it was. Then afterwards my comp told me. It was gross. O, and today I ate another wonderful part of a cow. The sister told me it was just meat from a cow, and when she handed me my plate, there was 4 tongues! It´s weird becuase it didn´t taste all that bad, but I knew what it was and I couldn´t finish it, so my comp ate it for me. haha Anyways, besides the food with members, I have found the best food in the world. There is a taco stand right by our house and we eat tacos al pastor there. It´s super cheap so that makes it that much better. The guys who work there are really nice and always give us discounts and some free tacos. We eat there every night on our way home. I wish I could send some home for everyone because they are seriously to die for. So ya, the food has its ups and downs. O, so something that I´ve noticed that is really funny here is the names of movies. Because they translate them into spanish, well they try to translate them. A member had the movie Wild Hogs and I looked at the title and in english is was Rebels With a Cause. And that new movie The Happening is called something like The Last Day of the World. It´s just funny how different everything is. Anyways, everything´s going good. My companion has really been studying english a lot lately and I hope I don´t sound as weird as him when I talk. But it is pretty cool cuz there are quite a few people who speak english. It´s all the people who lived in the U.S. for a while. But then they got deported = ) . Well, I think that´s about it. O, so there is a picture of the baptism, and of us painting that family´s house today, and of those delicious tacos. I love you all, and hope everything is going great. Tell everyone hi and I love them. Can´t wait to hear from everyone!

Letter from Rees

Hey everyone! How´s everything going? I hope all is well. So anyways, this week was great. It started out kinda slow but it got going. Saturday I got to baptize two people. A husband and a wife, Ricardo y Adriana. They were living together and not married, because she is pregnant, so we took them and got them married that morning, and then baptized them that night. It was amazing to feel the Spirit there so strongly. To see the smile and the happiness on their faces afterwards was amazing. You can just see the relief of all the sins, and a huge burden lifted off their shoulders. The Atonement is so amazing. Without it we´re nothing. And it´s so comforting to know that every Sunday we can have the same experience as we did in baptism. Anyways, besides that, we´ve just been teaching and working hard. Everyday we wake up and exercise, then do personal study, companionship study, and then language study. Then we´re on our way. We just plan who we need to visit each day and go, contacting along the way. It is very rare that we ever make it through a day according to schedule. Something always comes up. Someone has a problem, or we run into someone we didn´t plan on, or my companion has to stop at the chapel and take a dump. He eats so much stinkin chili that he has to go every hour. = ) It´s pretty funny because he says words in english so that people won´t understand him. We´ll be visiting someone and he´ll be like, ´´I have to crap´´. And they don´t understand him, but we just get up and leave as quickly as possible. = ) Luckily I haven´t had many problems yet. No major emergencies or anything. The toilets here are so weak that they clog almost everytime. So I don´t dare go at a member or investigators house. But ya, everything has been going good. The time is really starting to fly. I feel like I´ve been here a week. Is it going fast for you guys too? I never believed anyone when they said the time goes fast, but when you´re working hard and always busy, the time is gone before you know it. Well, I think that´s about it. I love you all and hope all is well. Tell everyone I say hi. Remember how blessed we are to be in this Gospel. One of the greatest gifts on earth is the gift of the Holy Ghost. I definitely took it for granted before the mission. We are promised so many blessings through the Spirit, and it can be an enormous help in our lives as long as we´re worthy. I love you all, and can´t wait to hear from you.

Fun weekend!

Rhegan's love life update:
Hunter & Ray Ray

"We're just friends Mom"!



We had a fun weekend with Jeremy and Kizzy's girls.

Riley Update

It seems that patriotism is on our minds this month so I wanted to share an awesome experience I had a couple of weeks ago. Riley has a buddy in Iraq with him, his name is Anthony. They became good friends at Ft. Stewart. Anthony's mom, Lisa, received an e-mail from her son several months ago, he mentioned that the kids at school in Iraq had one pencil to share amongst ten kids. He wondered if she could start collecting pencils to send to Iraq so he could take them to the schools. Realizing that there were things our soldiers could use also, Lisa started a charity, "Treats for Troops". She began collecting things that our soldiers needed, baby wipes, chapstick, socks, deodorant, etc. The biggest problem was the postage to send the things over. She told me of times she stood in line at the post office with many boxes and people in line just started giving her money to help pay for shipping. I am so touched by the generosity of the American people. In September Lisa held a fundraiser on the Battleship New Jersey (pictured below) and I was privileged to attend this event. My sister Tammy, who lives in Philly, donated a signed football by her amazing husband "Coach Reid" (for those of you who don't know, he coaches the Philadelphia Eagles) and tickets to a game. She was able to attend with me, thanks Tam!!! Riley's buddy was on leave at the time (he and I are pictured below). We were able to hear from a lady who lost her son in Iraq, but continues sending things on his behalf. If you would like to read her story, go to www.adamconboymemorialfund.org. Another treat was the bagpipers from the police and fire department, have you ever heard "If You Think I'm Sexy" played on bagpipes??? I have!!!!! Thank you Lisa for all that you do for our troops and thank you everyone else who remembers them in their prayers. We are so blessed to live in this beautiful country and enjoy the freedoms that we do!! Thank you Riley for serving your country, I am proud of you son.

Letter from Rees

Hey everyone! I hope everything is going good. I´m doing great here. We baptized a husband and wife yesterday and it was amazing. They both have such strong testimonies already because they have seen the difference the Gospel has made in their lives. Life is hard, but it is so much easier with the Lord at our side. It is so sad to see people reject this message because I know how much happiness it can bring them. But they´ll accept it someday. The people are so nice. Almost everyone we contact in the street stops and listens and says we can come visit them. I appreciate all the emails. Even though it takes away from my writing time it is great to hear from everyone. The food is still pretty gross. Very rarely do I like anything we eat. =) I just buy Chips Ahoy cookies in the little tiendas to snack on. I have gone down a notch in my belt already. But don´t worry I´m not starving. Just eating a lot less. I can´t even describe how grateful I am for America now. We are so so so blessed to live in that amazing country. Anyways, we are teaching a lot. We have several investigators so it´s hard to find time to visit the new ones. As soon as we get a few more baptized we´ll be able to move on a little bit. It just takes so long to get from place to place that you lose all your time. My companion is great. He is a huge help in learning the language. I´m getting better at understanding people but it´s still very hard. It is so loud everywhere here so it is hard to even hear the person next to you. It´s weird how good these people´s hearing is. But ya, everything is good, I sleep like a rock because I´m so stinking tired every night. I hope everything is going good at home. Tell everyone hi. Remember, God is a God of miracles. All we have to do is be worthy and have faith, and He won´t hesitate to bless us with miracles. They happen everyday and we are so blessed to be members of this church.

Here it is!

Our blog! Yeah! We are so excited to keep you updated on our family. Come back often to check on us. I will be posting Rees' weekly letters here while he is in Mexico and give you updates on Riley while he is in Iraq. We can't forget Rhegan- I will update you on her love life, cheerleading, etc....