Monday, October 12, 2015

Exchanges, Baptismal Interview, and Super Saturday!



10-12-15
Dearest Family,
This week has been really pretty great. I have been studying a lot about accountability because I will be training on that in our district meeting on Tuesday. It has been really interesting and really neat to read about it. It's a really broad topic. Accountability includes taking responsibility for your actions, repenting, using your agency to be accountable, and most importantly, accounting to the Lord for your work and your desires and your deeds. In Preach My Gospel, in Chapter 8, it talked about how accountability doesn't just come at the end of our mission--it comes throughout. We should always be accounting to the Lord for what we are doing. one day we are going to stand before God at the judgment bar and we will give an accounting of our lives. It really touched me. We should all be striving to be a disciple of Jesus Christ (3 Nephi 5:13)
On Monday we ate dinner with the O's! I am pretty sure it is becoming a regular thing. We had FHE with them and it was cool because she had these papers, like assessment, to assess how we're doing with the little things, like scripture study, church attendance, prayers, and such. We filled it out even though we are doing them all and she told us to write how we would keep it up after our mission. So we did. And they are going to mail them to us! I'm excited. We saw the M's after that. I love them. H is making slow progress. We are finally beginning to see what is holding him back. (Alma 27:14, D&C 121:7-8)
On Tuesday, we had district meeting. It was pretty great. For the life of me, I can't remember exactly what we talked about. I think it was mostly how to work with members. We went on exchanges so I didn't get to be in my area :( I was so sad. I really don't want to leave. Transfers are next week so anything could happen. I am really stressed and I think it is because of transfers. It will be my last one. (How crazy is that??) So that'll be interesting. I was in a Spanish area and I didn't understand much. I got to teach a little bit though! It was fun. We ate dinner with the elders at an investigators' home so that was really cool. (Mosiah 27:15)
Wednesday, we exchanged back around noon. Sister Putnam and I were excited to be back together. I didn't want to go on exchanges but it was fun, I will admit. I got to take a picture next to a sign with my name on it! I will send it :) We tried to stop by a few people before dinner but we didn't have a lot of success. WE had dinner with the M's who are super awesome. Then we stopped by the J's before we went to mutual. Our two appointments for the night cancelled on us so that was a bummer. But we helped at mutual so that was good! We stopped by a couple other people afterward but no one really answered. (Mosiah 28:3)
Thursday was a pretty good day. We went to see Sister L that morning. She's really great. She's pregnant! She's due in February. I may have mentioned that already but that's okay! We had lunch with the O family. It was good. We shared this really cool poem Sister Putnam found on LDS.org. It's called "Turning Into the Light." You should look it up. It's about addiction recovery and the Atonement! We served at the Poverello House and that was cool because we hadn't been there for a while, but they remembered us! We stopped by J T to pick up dinner. It was cool. Except she gave us tuna and I don't actually like tuna. We saw the P's! They are all set for baptism on Saturday at four! We are super excited. They are so prepared. M may not be baptized with them because we still haven't gotten permission, but she will be baptized soon. I know she will. We found a couple new investigators! They are Cambodian. Sister P came with us to see them. It was fun. We dropped by Brother H but he was in the shower and T answered and told us. So that was cool. (Alma 1:25)
Friday we weekly planned. First time we have been able to finish in a long time. It was fun! I was going crazy but it was good. We ate with the Ps and met another daughter who was visiting from LA. She was super sweet. Then we saw Sister D. I love her a lot. She's a less active who keeps talking about coming to church but hasn't come yet. We saw Sister H so that was cool. Then we saw F and J. We haven't seen them in a while. We talked about service with them and that was really good. We didn't stay too long though. (Moroni 7:45-48)
Saturday we went to Super Saturday! I made these cool blocks that are a countdown till whatever. There are blocks that are like dice and they have numbers (which I haven't put on yet) and then there is a bigger one that says "Days until..." and then there is a chalkboard painted block underneath. It is so cute! I made some other things but they are Christmas presents so I won't tell you :) We saw the M's. R has asked us not to teach while we're there so we just visited for a few minutes. It was sad though. Then we went to A R's baptism! They were less active but now they are coming back. slowly. We saw H and C and they took us to dinner. H opened up a little more afterwards so that was good. We saw Brother H and visited with him for little bit. I just love all of these people. (Ether 12:33-34, Alma 5:26)
On Sunday we were at church all day, of course. We had a really good MCM and then talked about our baptism in ward council. We tend to schedule baptisms on the busiest Saturdays ever and of course there is something going on. A big youth conference before the dance. It starts at one. But some of the youth will be there. Not a lot. We weren't sure the P's would come to church because we couldn't get a hold of P. But they came! And they had their interviews. Elder Villanueva told us that he thinks A will serve a mission. And he said D retained everything really well. M said the most important thing she learned was how to repent. It was really cool to hear! We taught I and he had such a drastic change since the last time we saw him. He really loves learning now and he loves coming to church and he wants to get baptized! He's eight and his dad is a very active member but we are teaching him to help him know why baptism. Then we ate dinner with the L family. It was her birthday! We saw the R family because A was having a party for her birthday. She turned five. They gave us pumpkins to decorate. We drew on them and put stickers on there. They weren' really pumpkins. We saw Brother H again. I just love him. (Alma 5:59-60; Joshua 24:15)
I just love being here so much. I know you are on the countdown for my homecoming, but I just really want to finish strong. I am so grateful for all of your support. Thank you! I love you all!
Always <3,
Sister Abigail Reese
1. It's me on a sign!
2. It's Superman!
3. It's Spiderman!

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