Temple Day

Mom,

It has been a long week for me too. I have been having migraines and you know how great those are. But it's okay. I got a blessing on Saturday. It was the craziest thing because I wasn't going to ask for one but we were practicing our musical number with a couple elders and an elder that I look up to and love walked in and I had thought of him when I wanted a blessing. When I asked him for one, and I told him why, he told me that it was inspired he was there that day. It was a really cool experience to see how God truly works in the lives of His missionaries.

I'm so proud of him! (Hunter) I wasn't sure if he started tryouts this week or last week so I've just been praying for him to prepare for that and school. When does he start school? I know it's soon but I wasn't sure when. I'm glad your class is going well. I wish I could help! But I am in spirit...

I'm good. I've just been really missing everyone at home, but I'm trying really hard to remember to focus on what I am doing here. It's important that I focus everyday on my purpose and on how I can help the people in the area I am serving in now. We actually have someone that we are going to teach on Thursday. Her name is Rachel. Elder Moreno and Elder Grisenti tracted a "ghetto" in our area and found her. She sounds really nice. We called and set up an appointment with her. Hopefully we will be able to meet with her and help her know the truth for herself. I know she has four kids. I don't know their ages though. I am super grateful for Elder Moreno and Elder Grisenti though.

Yes, I am waiting for CDs. Transfers on in two weeks. I will most likely not be with Sister Ard anymore since she is my trainer and we are almost done with twelve weeks. But it's okay. I love her and she has helped me so much but I know the Lord has plans for me. I really don't care what journal you send me. Just take the one on the top of the pile. I don't really remember which journals I have. I took the ones I wanted with me here. I have one that I am writing in now but based on how fast I went through the one Hunter got me for Christmas, I may need another soon...

I'm glad you got my package! Sorry it was so late! I didn't know you got a new entertainment center. What does it look like?? I like that plaque. It totally fits you perfectly.

New members? That's awesome! We got some new families in the ward I'm serving in and they are great. Sister Gardner--one of the new ones--took us to the temple this morning. She loves missionaries and she is so awesome. Don't forget the candy bars! They will be upset if you do.

I love being here even when it's hard and even when I miss everyone and everything. I know God is working miracles through my hands and I hope I can do it justice. I love you and I hope everything is going well for you. I pray for you all everyday and I hope you know that. I also hope you can see the blessings that are in our lives because of this. I love you!

Always <3,

Sister Abigail Reese

PS I haven't heard from your friend recently but I may email her if I have time! Also, will you please tell Hunter to email me. You have to remind him or he wont' do it.

Dad,

We had a busy day yesterday! I am glad we got to go to the temple this morning. It was a great experience. I miss the temple so much and I will probably be going a lot more when I come home. Last night, we went to dinner with the Dockstaders. They are awesome and they took us out to this really yummy restaurant. There was a man there who was a former stake president in Los Angeles. He came and talked to us because we are missionaries. He gave us his number and told us to call if we ever need any dental work done and he would take care of it. He has businesses all over. I was so grateful and it made my day. It's so awesome when people talk to us just because we are missionaries.

It's raining in Pittsburg? (Bill is in Pittsburg this week) They should send some to us....the drought here is horrible and I hope that we get rain soon. I miss rain.

I have been praying that Hunter will do well at tryouts. I hope he tries his best and always remembers that that is all he can do. Duke is funny. He always wants to go places. I miss him. I see big dogs and I think of him. I am not so afraid of them anymore, mostly. If they aren't barking at me, anyway. I don't like little dogs though. They are ridiculous.

I love seeing missionaries! We saw a couple missionaries at the restaurant we were at last night. They serve in the employment office here. It was great. (Bill saw some missionaries when he was getting gas in Coeur d'Alene last week and he spoke to them) I'm glad you talked to them. It always makes my day. I'm sure they were intimidated though. I would be too. I'm surprised they were getting gas in their service clothes. We usually don't do that. But I'm glad you talked to them! Did you ask where they were from??

This week, I've been having migraines. There have been countless times where I wanted to ask you what I could do but I figured it out on my own, even though it was hard. It was really frustrating to have  migraines everyday and not be able to concentrate. I still have been having headaches but the Lord blesses me as we work.

We had an appointment with a potential investigator this week. We talked about Jesus Christ with him but when we brought in the Book of Mormon, he kind of drew back. He was honest with us and said he wasn't interested in our Church but he felt the Spirit and he thanked us for helping him learn more of Christ. I know we planted a seed even if he wasn't interested right then.

We have an appointment with a woman named Rachel on Thursday. The Spanish elders found her for us and we are super excited! I hope that we will be able to help her to find the truth for herself.

I hope you have a good week in Pittsburgh! I know how much you love to travel. I pray for you everyday and I hope you know how much I love you. Did you get my package?? I love you!

Always <3,

Sister Abigail Reese

Another Week Gone By....

Mom,

Do you remember when I got my Patriarchal blessing? I was reading it this morning and I thought of when I got it about five years ago (I think). I got to the part where it says "...you will have the opportunity of serving as a full time missionary for the church" and I remembered my reaction--which was kind of like, "Yeah right." But then I thought about what you and Dad thought. I wondered about your reaction to it. It's so incredible to see it coming to pass now and knowing that that was part of what I was supposed to do for my life is an incredible blessing. More than that, knowing that you and Dad were there to witness it too is an awesome blessing too.

I didn't know you got a SodaStream Machine! We saw one at Wal-Mart today and I thought of all of you. Weird, right? That's cool though! Are you making good use of it? I miss Dr. Pepper which I can't have while I'm here, but it's okay. It's worth it.

I got my GPS and I'm so excited about it! I love it! It's so nice! I haven't used it yet because I'm still not driving--but I will eventually. Sister Ard has something against them. I think it's just because she thinks it's silly that I don't have confidence that I can find my own way.

He's coming to California?? (Abby's friend, John Gunnerson recently got his call) YEA! Even though I won't see him. But that's exciting! When does he leave?? And Shanda is going to Spain....that's way awesome! I'm so excited for both of them. Which mission in Spain?

Chuck is alright. We are a little worried that he is only letting us come back because he is learning for the sake of learning, not to actually know for himself. But we'll figure that out soon. We are going to try to have him in a member's home this week and we'll teach him the Restoration. That will be a super powerful lesson--it's one of my favorites to teach.

We do have a potential investigator! His name is Reuben. We found him when we were knocking doors and he invited us to come back so we did this week and he remembered us! He even invited us in but he's a single man and there was no adult woman in the house. It was okay though. We're going to go back with Sister Gonzales. She's so awesome.

We got to do some service this week! For Sister Gonzales actually. She and her sister Juanita took us out to breakfast Saturday morning before we painted her doorframe and the wall around it. It was a lot of fun! I loved it! I wish we had more service opportunities here. This ward is really wealthy though so it's hard.

Yesterday, Sister Ard had a previous investigator of hers get baptized so she went up to Visalia while I stayed here in our area. I was with Sister Agar who is awesome. I love all these members so much and it's hard to imagine leaving them--which I may be doing at the end of this transfer which ends in three weeks. But it's okay. I'll be done with training and everything will work out! I'm excited to just keep doing missionary work. It's the best thing ever and I am so grateful for it.

 

And I haven't gotten any CDs yet--did you find the ones I wanted? If not that's okay.

There's this family here whom I adore. The Burts. They have the cutest little girl who is about a year and a half. Her name is Camille. We go over to their house a lot and we play with her while we talk to her parents so she loves us. In church on Sunday, she saw us and she got super excited. She was waving and smiling and I guess she even tried to come see us. Sister Burt told us that she asked her husband if the sisters were sitting behind them. But she's a cutie. It is really hard not being able to hold children though...

I love you and I hope everything is going well for you! Good luck with school--if I can do anything to help, I will. I love you!

Always <3,

Sister Reese 

Dad,

I was reading my Patriarchal Blessing this morning and I read the part about me serving a mission. It says "...you will have the opportunity of serving as a full time missionary for the church." I remember when I got that blessing almost six years ago. Or maybe five. And I remember what I was thinking when I heard it for the first time. I was shocked. And I always wondered what you and Mom thought when you heard it too. I read through that and I realize how much has come to pass and how much is coming to pass. Knowing that the Lord knew way back when I was a fourteen year old shy little girl that I would serve a mission is just about the greatest blessing. And knowing that you and Mom were witness to it and know that this is the right path for me is the greatest blessing ever. I am so grateful for that day and all that it started for me, even though sometimes it's really hard to be here.

I love Coeur d'Alene. It's a beautiful place! I was talking to some members, one of which served in the Twin Falls Mission when it covered most of western Idaho. She loves Idaho and she wants to move there, but she doesn't like the cold. I was telling them how awesome it is in Northern Idaho but it gets really cold there. It's cool to have members who actually know what I'm talking about.

How was High Adventure? What did you do? You made him (the dog) take a bath again?? Wow, I bet he was mad at you. I think it's so funny that he didn't want to go upstairs though! He always does the strangest things.

I forgot that you would probably be doing that soon. How are Scott and Keri doing? I hear from them occasionally but not often. I dislike those games, but I bet I may or may not end up using them while I'm here.

I love being here. This week was really great. Mostly. We went to Yosemite, which you already know, and then Tuesday we went to the Mission Office because Sister Ard had a meeting with President Clark. I got to see President and Sister Clark. I love them. They are so inspiring and spiritual. It was really nice to see them and to talk with them. President Clark is exactly what I need while I'm here.

We also visited a potential investigator named Reuben. We had offered to pray with him previously a few weeks ago and we went back this week. The weird part was that he remembered us! Most don't. He invited us in but we couldn't go in because he was a single man and we needed a woman in the house. So we set up a time to come back. Hopefully he'll become a new investigator and we'll be able to teach him and baptize him! I love it so much.

On Saturday morning, we did some service--we painted! Sister Gonzales is a ward missionary here and she's so great. She's Hispanic and she loves us. She and her sister Juanita (from Twin Falls!) took us to breakfast at this really good place. There was a lot of food there. It was really yummy. And then we painted her doorframe and around it for her. It was a lot of fun!

I got the GPS finally. I was excited! It's really nice--thank you so much! I also got three letters from Grandma. One of them was the long banner thing that everyone signed. It made me cry but I'm really glad I got it! It was great! I'll write her today or next week if I don't have time. It was awesome to have that though. Knowing how much people miss me but how proud they are of me was really great.

I sent a package today. It has some things I don't need plus your Father's Day gift, Hunter's birthday present, and Mom's birthday present. It also has a magnet that I got for y'all at Yosemite. I hope you like it!

I love you and I pray for you!

Always <3,

Sister Abigail Reese