Arrival in Washington State

Yesterday afternoon, we received word that the missionaries (including Elder Reed) had made it safely to Washington State. Some pictures were sent too, including one at the airport and one at the sound. This mom was very grateful for that update!

Great group of missionaries!

Beautiful!

Until our next update, remember to count the blessings, even the small ones  :)

July 20 , 2017 Update

These are the words of Elder Reed as of July 20th:

"Hello everyone, this is Elder Reed.
Wow, time has just been flying here in the Provo Missionary Training Center. It has been 15 days since I set foot here in Utah and it only feels like it has been maybe 6. The time has been spent going to 3-hour classes, teaching TRC's (which are people that the MTC asks to be investigators for us fledgling missionaries), preparing for lessons, and standing in lines. There are over 1700 missionaries here, if I remember that correctly, with about 400, give or take 50, coming in and leaving each week. Wednesdays are when the newbies get in and the whole day everyone yells at them "Welcome to the MTC!!" It becomes very annoying after about the 7th time if you don't begin to realize that every Elder and Sister is going to say it as soon as they see the orange dot on your name tag which signifies that you are new. Once the next Wednesday rolls around it is actually quite satisfying to say the phrase to all of the new missionaries, and so the cycle continues.
My District here (a unit of missionaries) I quickly grew to love, and we all have grown to know each other better, it is going to be a real bummer when we have to go our separate ways in our differing fields. All of us Elders are going to the Washington, Tacoma Mission. The four Sisters are going to the Washington, Vancouver Mission. We will all have to report to the MTC travel agency place at about 3:50, in the morning. Yay. Not really. It is definitely going to be a rough morning, but I am excited for going out to the field. The weather will be a lot cooler then it gets here in Utah. Almost everyday it gets to about 90-100 degrees Fahrenheit. It has rained twice, if you could call it raining. It really only sprinkled. In Washington, I will not have a problem with that at all though.
In other news, there are two brand new buildings here that are only about four weeks old, so they have just begun to have tours of the buildings, this will continue for the next six weeks. So because of this open house, our classroom has been moved around a lot for some reason that I do not fully know. It has been an adventure, these buildings are not small. Well, there is always so much to write and never enough time (it took a while to get the camera working so that these pictures could be added). I wish I had more time because there is so much more to tell.
Next time you receive an email form me, I will be in Washington.
Love from Elder Reed and Hymn 152"

Here are some wonderful pictures he attached:

Beautiful mountains!

Welcome to the Mission Blog for Elder Neil Reed!

This blog will chronologically catalog the mission of Elder Neil Reed as he serves in the Tacoma, Washington Mission in the United States. We (Elder Reed's family) will try to post weekly updates as they come, as well as pictures he sends to us.

Elder Reed is currently in the Missionary Training Center to receive training on how to be an effective and successful missionary. Here is a picture of him and some of his companions at the Provo, Utah Temple:

Letters can be sent to Elder Reed via dearelder.com at the present time, more information is to come. Please note that dearelder.com is not an entirely private way to send letters, they will be printed and sent, but there is a possibility of a letter being read.

This is the first update from Elder Reed straight from the MTC (Anything in brackets has been added or altered solely for clarity and ease of understanding):

"Wow, this week-and-some-days has been [quite] the experience. The orange juice is not bad at all, in fact I have had some kind of juice for every meal. There are about eight different kinds. As for the learning, I like the much used analogy of the teachers as a fire hose feeding. It is almost non stop learning and teaching and studying. The breaks are very awesome. I would send a picture of my schedule but I can't attach pictures using the computers in the laundry room. We will go to the computers lab next week so we can send pictures. . . .
I will be leaving on the 25 or 24 so I will only have one more [preparation] day before I go out in the field. . . . Busy is my middle name here, with lessons and teaching, lessons about teaching, and teaching lessons. All that wonderful stuff. It is about ninety to one hundred [degrees Fahrenheit] every day here though it is nice in the morning. . . .
The spirit is so strong here it is amazing. My testimony continues to grow each day and I know that I am with those the Lord wants me to be with at the moment.
Well, till the next
Hymn 152 and love from Elder Reed".

Elder Reed and his companion

Elder Reed and the district

Preparation day is the one day a week missionaries have to do laundry, email their families, and other assorted activities that are not a normal part of the mission schedule.