Elder Nelson

Today was a great day. We went to the Temple, and that is always wonderful. I love the spirit that is felt there. The workers are so nice, and I learn something new every time. We also went to the Zoo afterward. Let me tell ya, I am so thankful that we have Hogle Zoo, because the Zoo that they have here, well I don't know if they can really call it that. We entered with our eyes opened and left with them still opened, amazed. Ha ha it was so funny. I know that they have a lot of potential here in the DR and that in the coming years this country is going to grow a lot. It was fun to go, even though its really interesting, its really fun to see how other countries have their attractions.
I have been really stressed about a lot of things that have been weighing on my mind but let me just tell you that I know that our Heavenly Father answers prayers. We were so happy this week and we really have been blessed because we have found many many families that are ready to listen to us. We are now teaching at least six families. The work is progressing in Mendoza. For a while it seemed dead, because we were still trying to learn the new area, but now we are more comfortable and there are a lot of blessings that we are receiving.
We had Zone conference last week and the President taught us a lot of great things. He said that we can never loose our excitement because they leads to loosing our hope and our faith. And if I want to endure to the end of my mission, I have to apply that counsel. Sometimes i think, wow I have been in this area FOREVER, but there is a purpose, and i know that there is someone that i need to meet. So now I have a new boost to help me endure.
Another thing that helps me is knowing that on Saturday an Apostle is coming here to speak to us! Elder Nelson will be coming here and I know that I am going to learn a lot. I love you all so much and am so grateful that so many people are cheering me on and praying for me!
Con Amor,
Hermana Reay

One of the busiest weeks of my mission.

Really quickly I just wanted to say that next week we are going to the Temple! YAY so I won't be writing on Monday, but on Wednesday the 16th! I think that we are going to go to the zoo too! yay! I am excited! We are really busy here helping to plan a wedding and getting all of our other work done: I had one of the busiest weeks of my mission, we had 35 lessons! That is only others, not including teaching the new members and less actives, and that isn't including the lessons with members either! Wow, it's was great, I cant believe that we are working so much, no wonder I am exhausted! So I know that it is possible to reach my goals. We also had such an amazing Sunday, one of the most spiritual that I have had here in the mission. One of our new members is having a really hard time, she has confided in us as the missionaries but hasn't told anyone else her problems. It's really hard for us because there is nothing much that we can do other than read some inspirational scriptures and tell her that she is loved. She hasn't seen her family in almost 7 years and hasn't talked to her mom since Mothers Day. She feels really alone. Well I guess she has been praying a lot and she had the strongest feeling to share her testimony and she spilled out all of her problems, and told the ward how much she loved them and how she gained her testimony and that with the gospel she doesn't feel so alone. Well the ward responded and they all talked to her after, an Hermano brought over at least a months worth of food to her house, and they are all willing to help her out now. She said she was so scared and she felt bad saying anything to anyone but she needed it, and now she is happier and she knows she is loved. I hope that they can all help her to see her family again soon. Time is passing by really quickly and I cant believe that I almost have 6 months here in Mendoza. I think that I am ready for a change, but I know that I will enjoy my time here while I have it. I also can't believe that in about 140 days I will be seeing my family! Yay!! I am ready for that! I hope that you are all happy and healthy!
Con amor,
Hermana Reay

They are getting married!

I wanted to tell you about our day in church yesterday. We ended up having 13 investigators! (And it’s funny because this week in district meeting the zone leader asked us what is our secret of always having so many in church, and the number grew even more! But really it’s the members!) It was a miracle and I was so happy! More and more people just kept coming. Including new people that we have never met. We have a lot of appointments with them. It was wonderful!
The plans for the wedding of Caterin are coming right along, she is so happy, and we started to teach her fiancé this week, and he is really interested. I am not sure that they will get baptized together, but I know that somewhere in the near future he will be baptized as well. Caterin´s goal is temple marriage; she keeps saying that in a year from March they will be planning their real wedding! It really is special to be a part of this all. We have seen such a change in them, and they are completely happy, they picked out rings today! We also got a few things to help her make a few invitations; they are going to be so cute! Its fun to be able to help her plan her small wedding, especially when I can’t help with the weddings back home! Our ward is going to help us out a lot, including they are going to buy a legit wedding cake, and decorate the church to have a small reception with just family and the leaders in the church.
We couldn’t be happier with this great area, we know that they really love the people here, and that the ward is always willing to help out! This past week I completed a year in the mission, can you believe it? It was a good day, a lot of the members somehow knew...so they all congratulated me, and my comp made me a sign! She is so cute, I love her more and more each day! We also had the wonderful opportunity to MOVE AGAIN!!! Because the are went from 4 hermana´s to us 2. We moved into the other house. I have only had 2 areas my whole mission and this is my 5th house! It is crazy; I think that I am done moving. But we had a lot of help and we got it done really fast! Well I can’t believe that February is here, only 5 more months and I will see all of your beautiful faces! Love you all!
Hermana Reay

I can’t wait for JUNE!!!

Buenas!!!
I am sooooo happy to hear that the plans are moving right along for the big trip to the DR, I love hearing about all of the different people that are coming! I can’t wait to see you all! You are all going to love it here! The DR is heating up again, and it is
reminding me a lot of my Gazcue days, when I lived in true heat, sweat, and humidity.
Today was amazing because I got to see Susan! She is my favorite thing about the DR I am pretty sure. I can’t wait for some of you to meet her. She is an inspiration to all who know her. I was telling my companion today that if I had to end my mission right now, I would be fine because I know that Susan was the reason I was sent to this mission. She is preparing for her mission, and she hits her year mark as a member the day before you all get here! I can’t wait for JUNE!!!
I am so happy that I am still with Hermana Garcia, we learn so much from each other every day. She is really special to me. We have been trying to contact a lot in the other area, and we realized how much area we actually have. It’s exciting, we are going to get to work and contact street by street. We have to leave a lot of investigators and get a new investigator pool anyways so it’s perfect timing. We have a really amazing investigator, Caterin. (I think that I have told you a lot about her...) She is amazing. She is going to be baptized in February after her wedding. She told her "husband" the other day that if they didn’t get married at least a week before the 25th of February that she was going to leave and live with her Mom because she is done living in sin. She said that she would just wait for him to decide when he wants to marry her, but she is getting baptized on the 25th whether he is ready or not. She is great. He thinks it’s really soon, but then she just said, "yeah Luis, but if Jesus Christ comes tomorrow, what are we gonna do?" It was great, she has such a strong testimony, and she shares it with everyone. I just love it. She is really helping me to grow and realize the important things in life. I am so glad that I will be able to be here to help her and to start teaching Luis so that together they can grow in the gospel and reach the goal of temple marriage. She is one of the people I would love to come back and see her wedding in the Temple someday. She is amazing. I love that really in the mission you can make friends that will always be special. And I love that our connections started with the gospel.
I love doing this work, the mission isn’t easy and for other reasons sometimes I feel like giving up, life would be easier and happier sometimes at home, but I know that I am not here for fun, not here for my mission president, not here to be sad, not here to be lazy, I am only here to serve the Lord and all of the people that come in my path. Sometimes I feel like I am not doing much, but I know that all of the little things add up, serving my companion, making a contact, or even singing an uplifting hymn. These things all affect people’s lives, and mine as well. I know that the gospel even just a small part, brings so much happiness to my life, I know my purpose, I know that I am a child of God and that He loves me, I know that the Gospel was restored and through the restoration we can make sacred ordinances with God and be a part of His kingdom here on the earth. Most importantly I know that I can have an eternal family, and be with all of the people I love so much in the life to come. I am so grateful to have this knowledge and to share it with the people here in Santo Domingo. This is a small part of my testimony that I am happy to share in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Love you all,
Hermana Reay

¡Buenas Dias todos ustedes!

¡Buenas Dias todos ustedes!
How are you? I hope that all is well, it has been a really interesting week. My best friend in the mission had to go home because she was so sick she couldn't even sleep. Hermana Haggard :( I now have no American friends in the mission, so I am ONLY speaking Spanish ALL THE TIME!!! ahhhh but it is so good for me. We had interviews with the I President on Saturday and my interview even was in Spanish the whole time. But I am happy. I am going to be staying in the same area with Hermana Garcia for another transfer! I reallly am happy because we get along really well, and when something is good, why not enjoy it!? We have the whole area of Mendoza, so there are some new streets and new places we can go to work. We are planning on working really,really hard, because with all the holidays, it was hard to teach and have investigators progressing. Because Hermana Haggard left, there was an extra Hermana, and the Pres put her with us. She left today to go home because she finished her mission. Wow it was a LONG 3 days. at the end of the mission the missionaries are just dead and they are done working. I made a goal that I am going to work until the last minute and enjoy it all, because this is the only time that I have to do the work of the Lord full time. We also had a special conference yesterday. It's was for the Caribbean only. Elder Uchtdorf spoke and Elder Oaks, and Sister Thompson. It was really good. The people here really needed to hear it. They talked a lot about how in the Gospel we have a culture, it's very different from all other cultures and especially the culture here. And that they need to learn how to live only the culture of the gospel and not both. It was good. I always love hearing from the Apostles. I love you all so much and you are in my prayers!
Hermana Reay

ten contacts every day!

How are you all?
Well the heat has returned to the DR. We tried to make cookies the other day for my companion’s birthday and it didn't work at all, it was so humid that we couldn't get any type of dough to form. Oh well, what a blessing that we made all of our Christmas cookies when we did and that the people were able to enjoy them when they could. I guess that the only month for baking here is December. haha but I am sooooo excited because I keep hearing such good news about many of you that are going to be coming here to do service! yay! I can’t wait. It sounds like it is going to be so much fun! This week was a little bit difficult because there are a lot of sicknesses going around, especially with the return of the humidity. But we pushed through and Sunday was a really productive day! We are so happy to be together as companions, Hermana Garcia really is amazing, I learn something new from her every day and we are always laughing, so we must be doing something right. We had a lot of lessons yesterday, and I am proud to say that the three months that we have been companions we have always had at least ten contacts every day! Sickness or no! yay! When I can really get into the work, I remember why I love it so much. Katherine yesterday told us that she is so sick of waiting and that she just wants to get baptized already! Hash and another one of our investigators interrupted our lesson when we were teaching about faith and asked us when he could be baptized. It really is wonderful. I am so happy to be here and to be learning and growing and realizing the most important things in life. I love you all!
Hermana Reay

Happy New Year!!

Hello,
I can’t believe we are in 2011, and that I am going to complete one year in the mission this month! CRAZY!!
Well this week was a little hard, I will just be honest. The way that the Dominicans celebrate the holidays is probably 100% different than the way that we celebrate in Utah! But it has been an adventure. Almost everyone is out of town, but we have surprisingly taught a lot of lessons. This week we taught a special lesson to all of the members, and investigators about goals. It was really fun actually. We read them all a quote from Preach my Gospel and we made bookmarks where they can write down their goals and put it in their scriptures so they never forget. It was fun, I hope that they all make their goals and really try to be better and get closer to our Heavenly Father. I really hope that they write their goals too, because its like my Dad always says, "A goal not written is just a wish!" I shared that with them all. But anyway that is most of what we did this week.
Yesterday was a wonderful fast and testimony meeting in church. There are 4 Hermana´s in our ward, and we all bore our testimonies, a lot of people did. The spirit was so strong, and then at the end we sang "The Spirit of God" so it fit really perfectly. I bore my testimony and it was horrible. Because I used to cry so much when I was younger that I never wanted to bear my testimony because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to talk. I have changed a lot, I don’t cry anymore.- I feel that I am stronger. Well I have been proven wrong. I cried really hard, and tried to speak still, IN SPANISH!!! Ahhh but I got out all that I wanted to say and it was fine. ut then after they all came up to me to hug me and tell me they loved me and then the tears just started all over again, oh well, I felt really close to my mom because we are the same in this aspect, she always cries too! Love you mom! haha but anyways, We didnt do anything for new years, just wrote our goals and resolutions, and had some brownies! haha I miss and love you all and hope that you are all happy and making your goals too! A really wise person that I love so much told me that we all need to make the most of every minute because we dont know what tomorrow will bring. so i hope that we all can live life to the fullest so that when we look back on 2011 we will be happy of ALL that we did, and have no regrets! (plus i will be there when you are looking back, we will together! yay!) i love you
Hermana Reay