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....