Email from January 19, 2015
Mom,
Mom,
I'm going pretty good! I love this area so much and I love
the people I am serving with and the people I get to serve. My companion is
incredible and she is helping me a lot with a lot of different things. We are
continually learning to work well together and how to work in unity. But
the difference between when we first were together and being together now is
like night and day. It is really incredible to look back and see how much we've
progressed. We did find two new investigators this week! They are great and
I've met them before! The Gabler family. It's a family of three but one of the
daughters didn't participate in our first lesson so we can't count her as a new
investigator. But she will be! I love them so much and they remember when we met.
Their names are Cathy (the mom), Catrel (13 year old), and Mariah (11 year
old). they are so sweet and Catrel is going to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle
Choir next month so it'll be really cool for her! We are continually getting to
know more of the members and it's really cool to be able to just love them so
much. I am excited about being a sister training leader too! It's not quite
like a trainer, but it's close. A trainer spends two transfers with a new
missionary, and a sister training leader just goes on exchanges with the
sisters under her stewardship. In this case, we have four sisters under our
stewardship so we get to go on two exchanges! We're going on one tomorrow and I
get to go back to Alluvial! I'm so excited! I miss everyone so much. But I was
really surprised because I was thinking about it and I don't actually want to
leave my area which is a really good thing because it means that I love this
area as much as I loved my last!
On Monday we saw the Olsen family. They are the best. I love
them with all my heart. Sister Olsen loves us all. She is the sweetest woman
ever. She is the young women president and she is so incredible at it. She just
lost her second counselor though to being a primary president--and they haven't
replaced her. Sound familiar? It reminded me of our ward because our bishopric
was always really bad about replacing people in the young women.
Tuesday we had district meeting. Sister Russell and I gave a
training on working with members and then Elder Bean gave a training on commitments--extending
them and keeping track of them. It was a really good training. He is a really
incredible district leader and I am really glad I've gotten to see how much he
has grown since we came out. I absolutely love seeing how the elders and sisters
I came out with have grown-and I get to see some of them this week because we
have zone conference! We ate dinner with the Humanns and the elders (Elder Cook
and Elder Parkin, the assistants) that day too. It was great! Elder Cook always
says something super funny at dinner and we have these inside jokes...it's
really fun! I love serving with the assistants. Elder Parkin was my zone leader
for two transfers too--when I was a new missionary--so I'm glad he can see how
much I've changed since that time.
Wednesday, we went to the relief society presidency meeting.
It was so great! the relief society presidency is so missionary minded. Sister
Debenedetti (the president) told us to utilize them. And they gave us some lost
sisters to visit. So far, we've visited a few and most of them have told us not
to come back. It breaks my heart because they won't even open up even a little
to us. I don't understand why some people don't want anything to do with the
church. I just want to ask them why. It doesn't make sense to me. We ate dinner
with Sister Houlihan who was less active for a really long time and she has
been more active for a couple years now. Her husband isn't a member and her
kids are inactive. She's so great though. I love her. She made us pigs in a blanket
and they were really good. I swear, I have never had pigs in a blanket the way
she made them.
On Thursday, we went over to this less active family, the Os.
It was only Sister O and her daughter who were home but she let us in and we talked
for a while. She is super sweet and said she wants to start coming back to
church. Hopefully they will. We'll go by again to see if we can do anything for
her. We saw the Olsens again Thursday as well. We spent too much time there, as
usual, but it was really helpful and Sister Olsen told us she wants each of her
laurels to come out with us twice a month. That will be helpful for us because
if they are with us in the evening we can see people we don't know after dark
and there are still a lot of members we don't know and who are home in the
evening.
On Friday, we had the coolest leadership training meeting! I
loved it! President Donaldson from the District 2 was there. He is the former
mission president of San Diego. And then there was a Brother Tanner from Salt
Lake. I loved it! They taught us a lot of things about how we can keep the work
moving forward even though the mission is splitting. Sister Russell and I
decided we needed to be better planners and we needed to keep a model
home...not that our home is dirty but it could be better. We saw the Whites
this week. they fed us dinner on Friday. I love them so much. And they had a
nonmember friend there! So we played a board game called "Armor of
God" and Sister White and I won. It was fun! We saw the Kennedys. They are
great, but they haven't been coming to church. I don't know why. It's really
sad. I really love their family.
On Saturday, we took the Shepherd sisters to lunch. they
have been stuck in their apartment because one of the sisters is still recovering
from a car accident. They really needed to get out. I'm glad we got to go with
them. I love those sisters so much. We had a movie night on Saturday. We
watched Mobsters and Mormons. It was so funny! And there was a pretty good turn
out. I loved it. We had a lot of fun. It was also Sister Hamilton's birthday
but she's up north so I didn't get to see or talk to her.
Yesterday we didn't have ward council so we got to sleep in!
It was nice. then Sister Russell did my hair for me. I figured out a really
cool thing I can do with it. I love it! I also made lunch for the elders
(Elders Cook and Parkin) because they don't live in our stake and they can't go
home after church to eat. So we made a big thing of pasta and heated up the
alfredo sauce that I bought at Wal Mart and we all ate lunch together. the
elders stood outside our apartment and we stood inside and talked. It was
really great! I absolutely love these two. they are the best and super funny.
We ate dinner with the Linfords. He is the young men's president. the old
bishop was there too. It was great! And then we saw the Robertsons. They are
the best. i love them so much. He is super knowledgeable and I just want to
stay in their house and go through their library.
Their house is bigger than ours?? What?? Why? maybe I'll
just go live with them after I come home...babysit for them. Take a little
while off from school...yeah, probably not. But that would be fun! I can't
believe Maddi and Melissa are getting married. I thought that would be me by now...and
now look! I'm a missionary. But tell them congrats (even though I think their
too young...I'm not their mom) and I hope everything goes well for them.
I love you and miss you but I
absolutely love being a missionary. Thank you for your support! I love you!
Always <3,
Always <3,
Sister Abigail Reese
PS Can you send me some vitamin D? I've been trying to get over congestion and losing my voice since Christmas...
PS Can you send me some vitamin D? I've been trying to get over congestion and losing my voice since Christmas...
Mom,
I'm going pretty good! I love this area so much and I love
the people I am serving with and the people I get to serve. My companion is
incredible and she is helping me a lot with a lot of different things. We are
continually learning to work well together and how to work in unity. But
the difference between when we first were together and being together now is
like night and day. It is really incredible to look back and see how much we've
progressed. We did find two new investigators this week! They are great and
I've met them before! The G family. It's a family of three but one of the daughters
didn't participate in our first lesson so we can't count her as a new
investigator. But she will be! I love them so much and they remember when we
met. Their names are C (the mom), C), and M, they are so sweet and C is going
to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir next month so it'll be really cool for
her! We are continually getting to know more of the members and it's really
cool to be able to just love them so much. I am excited about being a sister
training leader too! It's not quite like a trainer, but it's close. A trainer
spends two transfers with a new missionary, and a sister training leader just
goes on exchanges with the sisters under her stewardship. In this case, we have
four sisters under our stewardship so we get to go on two exchanges! We're
going on one tomorrow and I get to go back to Alluvial! I'm so excited! I miss
everyone so much. But I was really surprised because I was thinking about it
and I don't actually want to leave my area which is a really good thing because
it means that I love this area as much as I loved my last!
On Monday we saw the Olsen family. They are the best. I love
them with all my heart. Sister Olsen loves us all. She is the sweetest woman
ever. She is the young women president and she is so incredible at it. She just
lost her second counselor though to being a primary president--and they haven't
replaced her. Sound familiar? It reminded me of our ward because our bishopric
was always really bad about replacing people in the young women.
Tuesday we had district meeting. Sister Russell and I gave a
training on working with members and then Elder Bean gave a training on
commitments--extending them and keeping track of them. It was a really good
training. He is a really incredible district leader and I am really glad I've
gotten to see how much he has grown since we came out. I absolutely love seeing
how the elders and sisters I came out with have grown-and I get to see some of
them this week because we have zone conference! We ate dinner with the Humanns
and the elders (Elder Cook and Elder Parkin, the assistants) that day too. It
was great! Elder Cook always says something super funny at dinner and we have
these inside jokes...it's really fun! I love serving with the assistants. Elder
Parkin was my zone leader for two transfers too--when I was a new
missionary--so I'm glad he can see how much I've changed since that time.
Wednesday, we went to the relief society presidency meeting.
It was so great! the relief society presidency is so missionary minded. Sister
Debenedetti (the president) told us to utilize them. And they gave us some lost
sisters to visit. So far, we've visited a few and most of them have told us not
to come back. It breaks my heart because they won't even open up even a little
to us. I don't understand why some people don't want anything to do with the
church. I just want to ask them why. It doesn't make sense to me. We ate dinner
with Sister Houlihan who was less active for a really long time and she has been
more active for a couple years now. She's so great though. I love her. She made
us pigs in a blanket and they were really good. I swear, I have never had pigs
in a blanket the way she made them.
On Thursday, we went over to this less active family, the Os.
It was only Sister O and her daughter who were home but she let us in and we
talked for a while. She is super sweet and said she wants to start coming back
to church. Hopefully they will. We'll go by again to see if we can do anything
for her. We saw the Olsens again Thursday as well. We spent too much time
there, as usual, but it was really helpful and Sister Olsen told us she wants
each of her laurels to come out with us twice a month. That will be helpful for
us because if they are with us in the evening we can see people we don't know
after dark and there are still a lot of members we don't know and who are home
in the evening.
On Friday, we had the coolest leadership training meeting! I
loved it! President Donaldson from the District 2 was there. He is the former
mission president of San Diego. And then there was a Brother Tanner from Salt
Lake. I loved it! They taught us a lot of things about how we can keep the work
moving forward even though the mission is splitting. Sister Russell and I
decided we needed to be better planners and we needed to keep a model
home...not that our home is dirty but it could be better. We saw the Whites
this week. they fed us dinner on Friday. I love them so much. And they had a
nonmember friend there! So we played a board game called "Armor of
God" and Sister White and I won. It was fun! We saw the Kennedys. They are
great, I really love their family.
On Saturday, we took the Shepherd sisters to lunch. they
have been stuck in their apartment because one of the sisters is still
recovering from a car accident. They really needed to get out. I'm glad we got
to go with them. I love those sisters so much. We had a movie night on
Saturday. We watched Mobsters and Mormons. It was so funny! And there was a
pretty good turn out. I loved it. We had a lot of fun. It was also Sister
Hamilton's birthday but she's up north so I didn't get to see or talk to her.
Yesterday we didn't have ward council so we got to sleep in!
It was nice. then Sister Russell did my hair for me. I figured out a really
cool thing I can do with it. I love it! I also made lunch for the elders
(Elders Cook and Parkin) because they don't live in our stake and they can't go
home after church to eat. So we made a big thing of pasta and heated up the
alfredo sauce that I bought at Wal Mart and we all ate lunch together. the
elders stood outside our apartment and we stood inside and talked. It was
really great! I absolutely love these two. they are the best and super funny.
We ate dinner with the Linfords. He is the young men's president. the old
bishop was there too. It was great! And then we saw the Robertsons. They are the
best. i love them so much. He is super knowledgeable and I just want to stay in
their house and go through their library.
Their house is bigger than ours?? What?? Why? maybe I'll
just go live with them after I come home...babysit for them. Take a little while
off from school...yeah, probably not. But that would be fun! I can't believe
Maddi and Melissa are getting married. I thought that would be me by now...and
now look! I'm a missionary. But tell them congrats and I hope everything goes
well for them.
I love you and miss you but I
absolutely love being a missionary. Thank you for your support! I love you!
Always <3,
Always <3,
Sister Abigail Reese
PS Can you send me some vitamin D? I've been trying to get over congestion and losing my voice since Christmas...
PS Can you send me some vitamin D? I've been trying to get over congestion and losing my voice since Christmas...
Dad,
As much as I would like to be there to meet my new beautiful
nephew, I know that there is a reason he was born while I wasn't there and I
know there is a reason that I am here right now instead of there. I absolutely
love being a missionary and I don't ever want to leave...but I know I'll have
to eventually. I just don't think about that too much. I love Fresno and i love
the people here and I love the missionaries here. I have so much charity for
them. I never realized that you could have this much love for people you just
met or met only a few months ago. I think it's really amazing and it has helped
me to see how much love God has for each of us. The individual worth of all
these people that I have met has been manifest to me because of the love I have
for them. Love is a really powerful thing.
On Monday, we saw the Olsen family--the ones who knew the
Gummersalls. I love this family so much. They are so amazing. And they love
missionaries! They have one in Korea on a mission. They want to help
missionaries as much as they can because they hope that others will help their
missionary in Korea. Sister Olsen told us that every time she feeds
missionaries her son is fed for that month. It's wonderful. They help us out so
much. They gave Sister Russell medicine because she has been sick the last
couple weeks.
On Tuesday, we had district meeting. My district is a really
awesome missionary and he gave a really great training on commitments. I need
to be better at being bold when I extend commitments. We saw the Olson family.
Not the ones on Monday but the other ones in our ward. They are really great
too. Brother Olson is really missionary minded. He wants to invite a man that
he sees at the park to church. But he hasn't seen him recently yet. So he's
waiting. His wife just had knee surgery. They replaced her knee so she has this
gross scar on it from when it happened. They are the best. They are super sweet
and I love them. We ate dinner at the Humanns again and the assistants (Elder
Parkin and Elder Cook). The elders are hilarious. Elder cook always says
something crazy while we are at dinner with them so it always makes me laugh.
On Wednesday, We went to the relief society presidency
meeting. They are awesome and one of the members of the presidency took dinner
to our new investigator! She and her family were sick. She had laryngitis and
her daughters had the flu. This is a family of three we are now teaching. I met
them back in July when I was here on exchanges and they remembered me! Cathy is
a single mom and her daughters, Catrel and Mariah, are 11 and 13 so we can
teach them too! I love them so much. I really want to help them come unto
Christ. they have had three baptismal dates and all have fallen through so
hopefully we are what they will need to make that commitment. We also saw the
Dunmoore's. They are a family of 12 and they are the best. Sister Dunmoore is a
saint and I love her so much. She was super sweet. Her daughter let us in when
we went by and we talked to her for a while. Then we talked to Sister Dunmoore.
They have so many kids. We saw the Hutchasons. They are the best. Sister
Hutchason is so sweet. She is the compassionate serve leader and she just has
so much love and charity for everyone. Brother Hutchason is a tease and he
teases us a lot.
On Thursday, we went to the Bogle's for dinner. Our dinner
conversation consisted of the elders talking about racing cars and bikes to
which I could add nothing. When they asked us where we were from and I said
Boise, Brother Bogle mentioned a track for racing that was near there...so
there went the conversation again. It's okay though. I love the elders. They're
great. We saw the Olsens again on Thursday. They are so great. Sister Olsen
wants each of her laurels to come out with us twice a month. she's super awesome
and wants to help us (as I mentioned before). We did service for a recent
convert too. We were having a bad day and the we had met the assistants for
lunch and they bought lunch for us. But then afterward, no one answered their
door and/or they were all mean so we asked the assistants if they needed help
and they finally let us help them. they took pity on us. It was great! We
spread dirt for Rocio. She is the best. I love her.
On Friday, we had this awesome training by some people from
missionary headquarters. It was really cool! They emphasized how awesome this
mission is. It was a testimony to me that we have the best missionaries
ever...and then it helped me a lot to know that I am a great missionary. God
sent me to the best mission and there are high expectations here. It is really
good for me to know that we are the best :) We saw the Gablers (the family we
are teaching). We took dinner to them and then talked a little bit. It was
great! I love them so much. I hope they get baptized soon. We taught Maddy
Vaughn also. We are kind of tag teaming her with the elders. The elders think
she needs what they call "sister love" so we are going to teach her
too...I guess.
Saturday we ate dinner with the Zambranas. they are so
awesome! We contacted a referral they gave us and she invited us back so we
have a couple potentials because of them too. We took the Shepherd sisters to
lunch and it was a lot of fun. I loved it. They really needed to get out too.
We had a movie night at the Wilcox home. We watched Mobsters and Mormons and it
was so funny! I loved it!
Sunday we got to sleep in because we didn't have ward
council. It was nice. We made the elders lunch since their house is way outside
our area. It was great! We talked to them for a while too. I love them so much.
they have helped us out a lot. It's nice to have another set of missionaries to
fall back on. We saw the Jeffery family. They are adding on to their house so
it's kind of crazy but it's cool! And they are getting sealed in a few weeks so
they are getting ready for that too. It'll be really neat! I'm excited for
them. We saw the Freemans after dinner. Sister Freeman was just called as
primary president on Sunday and she is one of my favorite people. She's so
sweet. She was in young women before she was called to primary. they are
awesome.
Since I am a missionary, I want to know how everything is
going with your missionary work! Is Mom still posting my emails? Also, how are
your family prayers? I think that's something that is really important that we
have been good at in the past but off and on. And Family Home Evening
too...that's important too. Anyway. Just want everyone to be uplifted
spiritually!
hey, Sister Russell and I are going on a bread and desserts
diet this week...we're going to test it out and see if we can do it...I don't
know how it will work.
I can't wait to meet the baby! I hope all is well with him.
I miss y'all but I know I'm here for a reason. And I for sure know that I am a
sister training leader now for the other missionaries. I get to go back to my
old area tomorrow and I'm excited! But I actually don't want to leave my
area...which i didn't expect. I'm excited to help these sisters though! I love
them so much.
Daddy, I love you. I am so grateful
you are my dad. We went to young women's yesterday and we sat in with the
laurels. they were talking about fathers. I was reminded how very lucky I am to
have a dad like you. You are wonderful. I realized that when we were talking
about our relationship with our fathers. I am so grateful for you and all
you've taught me and done for me. Don't forget that you're still my favorite
man! I love you!
Always <3,
Sister Abigail Reese
PS Can you send me Vitamin D?
Always <3,
Sister Abigail Reese
PS Can you send me Vitamin D?
