Happy Birthday Rhegan!!!!

Happy Birthday to the most beautiful girl and the bestest friend in the world!!

Raul

Family,
How´s things? Things here are great. I think I told you guys the other week about our investigator Raul. He was the kid we found when the JW´s were at his door. Well he was baptized this week and it was incredible. When we found him he was just about dead from all the drugs and other stuff he was doing. But wow, what a change. I have never seen anyone who appreciates the church so much. Today he played soccer with us and some guy made a comment about how the church was ugly (who knows why), and Raul was about the punch the guy. And after he told me, "these people dont even know what they have". It´s so true. Sometimes we really forget how blessed we are. The Gospel changes peoples lives around completely. And now, for the example of Raul, his family is interested in the Gospel. In this time the Lord has taught me so much, and mostly thru the recent converts. I have never seen people with so much faith, who leave everything from the world to be able to follow the Lord. We can all do a better job of setting examples for those around us and sharing what we have. How blessed we are to have been born into the Gospel and to know it since we were little, but sometimes those who are new in the Church are the ones who set the example for us. The Lord can change anyone, and the experience of seeing it happen is indescribable. We should all pray and desire to see that more often. I love you all and pray for you always. Love, Rees

Love the People!!!

Fam,
We had a good week here. Just work like always. The Lord has really blessed us lately with finding some amazing people. I think something that has helped me a lot lately is trying to love the people more. Honestly, sometimes missionaries just see people as numbers, we´ve all done it, but the experience is 10 times more amazing when you do it because you love them and you desire to help them recieve salvation. This morning we went with two other missionaries and two brothers in the ward to Real del Monte and Mineral del Chico. They´re these two little towns in the middle of the mountains with some awesome mines and caves and rivers. It was a blast. I´ll be attaching the pictures in a minute. So ya, we´re having a great time here, as always. Me and my comp dont have changes this cycle so we´ll be together another 6 weeks. I´m excited. Like I said, we have been blessed to find some amazing people and the baptisms should be great. Love you all and appreciate all you do. Sorry this is a bit short. Look forward to hearing from everyone next week too. Love, Rees

Snow Day in Arizona!!

We love Arizona!! Where else can you leave the warm desert and drive 2 hours to play in the snow!!!!

Miracles!!!

Hey Fam,
Sounds like things are goin good at home. Sounds like it was a bummer week for the Eagles though. I´m always wearing my Vick jersey around the house. = ) I dont have my camera with me so I cant send the pictures of our baptisms yesterday. It was awesome. Tracee wanted me to tell her about the people we´re teaching so I´ll just throw it in here so you guys hear it too. We baptized one guy Miguel. He was one of the biggest miracles I´ve seen in my mission. 3 sundays ago he showed up at church and said that he had heard the missionaries before and was gonna go because he wanted to get back together with his girlfriend, who was a member. But then he decided that those werent good motives for joining the church so he didnt go. But then that day he showed up I sat next to him and we shared my hymn book and he was just belting the hymns. And then he told me his story and how his family wouldnt let us go to his house so we taught him in the church. And ya.... we taught him and 3 weeks later he was baptized. It´s just amazing how the Lord prepares his children. Then the other baptism was Ana Lidia. Shes an older lady with 3 kids and a husband. We knocked her door and she let us in and pulled out a pamphlet that the missionaries had given her before but then they never went back. She told us she had read it like 50 times and wanted to know more. So we taught her and gave her more pamphlets and she said she wasnt ready for baptism at first, but then we gave her her Book of Mormon and she read it and couldnt deny it. So like Miguel, she was baptized 3 weeks later. O and I have to tell you about this kid we found, Raul. We walked by his house and the jehovas witnesses were talkin to him outside and had the bible right up in his face (not that the JW´s are bad). But I saw him and he looked at me and his eyes just said, "save me!". So we went back a bit later when the JW´s were gone and he told us he liked what we believe in and that he wanted to go to church and he showed up alone and spent most the time crying because he loved the Spirit he felt. The Lord just teaches us so much each day through the people we find and the way the Gospel changes their lives. Love you guys and appreciate all your support. Tell everyone at church I say hi. Love, Rees

One More Day, But Who's Counting???

Since our computer has been down, this letter from Rees is a little late, but amazing as usual!!! Tomorrow is Christmas, and I must say that I am more excited to talk to Rees than open presents!!! So here is his letter from Monday!!
Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Hey Fam!
How´s things back home this holiday season? Is it cold there? Just like two days ago, it got really cold here. It has been a bit harder to get up in the mornings too. The gas to turn on the heater to heat the water is like frozen every morining so it takes like 15 minutes just to get the thing going. But it´s much more enjoyable than the heat, so I´m not complaining. The work picked up quite a bit this week too. The Lord always knows when we need a little boost from him. I sure hope I still see miracles like these after the mission. I never understood before how much the Lord really loves us. He just wants to drown us with blessings, we just have to do the little he asks of us. We´re all pretty excited here this week. I´m excited to talk to you all. I think I´ll call between like 12 and 2. Tell the Kings to be there so I can say hi to them ( if they´re not in california). So ya, the 24th is the big day here to celebrate so this cool family invited us to go eat dinner with them and then on friday we´re gonna eat with this other family that lived in California for a long time. They´ll be sure to hook us up with some good food. And christmas morning we´re gonna go as a zone to an old folks home here in our zone and sing and play games and give them some little gifts for a couple hours. It should be fun. I cant tell you all how much I love you and appreciate you. It´s so amazing being able to be here for christmas. I cant believe its already the last one. I better get to work so I dont lose any more of the time I got left. I love you guys. Tell everyone I wish them a merry christmas. Granny and Laura, thanks a ton for the money. It´s definitely what a missionary needs most. = ) I appreciate the love and support. Love, Rees P.S. Thanks for the package mom and dad.

Thankful!!!

I just need to say how thankful I am for a missionary who teaches me something each week. I am so amazed at his wisdom and I am so thankful that he has the Holy Ghost with him to teach him!! Thank you for writing him and supporting him. It is so great to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!!!!!
Love to everyone!!!!!