Oct 23rd, 2017 update

[Title for Elder Reed's update this week was "Jar-Jar Binks and Rain" - he loves to come up with interesting titles - ha ha]

"Wow, it is always way hard to remember what happened this week. 

Got a new companion for six weeks, Elder Theobald, from St. George. I like him a lot! He and I get along quite well. There was one day when we were knocking and we were quoting Star Wars episode one pretty much the whole time and we were laughing all about Jar-Jar and all of his amazing scenes in the film. We were just having a grand ol time.

This past week, I believe it was Wednesday, it rained a lot. And after walking around in it for about five hours, my shoes became little swimming pools, and every step was a *squish*. It was a very interesting time. Plus, it has been getting darker, so when people answer their doors, they have this semi-confused look on their faces as we try to teach them the gospel. It is quite funny sometimes. 

One night, we went split knocking with one of the zone leaders and afterwards we had a sort of pizza party because none of us had dinner yet so that was a fun time waiting for the pizza to bake as we dried off. Speaking of which, we converted this one room in our apartment into a drying room. We turned the heater on and put a fan on in there. We use it to dry off our pants and jackets before we go out again. Very fun :)

I do apologize that this week is a little shorter of an email, I will try to remember more next week

P.S. had two people this week tell us that they were "unfortunately Catholic" hhhmmmmm

-- 

Love from Elder Reed

Hymn 152"

Oct 16th, 2017 update

[Pictures first for this week!]

"Interesting stuff this week. As my companion and I were walking home one night, we saw this circle of white powder and it said inside of it "Are you a good witch or a bad one?". And if that was not weird enough, it was right in front of the cemetery. So in the middle of the night, that was kinda creepy. We did not see anything else around that night so that was a relief. It might just be some people getting ready for Halloween. Hopefully. 

Speaking of Halloween and such, after eating dinner at some members house (they are from New Zealand and the dinner was the biggest pancakes that I have ever seen, bigger than the plate!) , they invited us to stay for a little longer and carve some pumpkins with them! It was the first time that I had ever done that, and it does not look half bad. I will try to get a picture of it with a candle in it as well next week.

On last P-Day, two of the Elders went crabbing and the rest of us tagged along, which was actually quite fun because it was a break from the normal activities that usually happen on P-Days. Usually it is basketball. I do not like basketball very much, so pretty much anything else would be more exciting for me :) . We also went crabbing this morning as well, but it was a lot cooler than last time, I guess winter is on its way now. I did pick up some cool shells and a rock. 

We did encounter this one man who was studying to become a federal lawyer and he was explaining to us how it was different than other lawyers and it was just an interesting conversation. While knocking, I saw this cat (there are a lot of cats everywhere here) that was very large. If it had been orange, it pretty much could have been Garfield. That is how large this cat was, and when we tried to walk up towards the front door, it ran away, or tried to, and you could just tell that this thing was about to burst. Very fat cat. 

This week is also the beginning of a new transfer! I will be staying in the Bremerton Ward for another six weeks at least. One of the Elders that I was with in the MTC is going to be in my zone with me so that will be a cool experience as well, getting to see him again. 

I hope that you all are able to see the good in your lives and share it with others, because that is what it is about!

See Ya!

--

Love from Elder Reed

Hymn 152"

Oct 9th, 2017 update

[Elder Reed's email was titled: "LEIF ERICKSON DAY" - and he also saw a daisy along the side of the road - aren't they the friendliest flower? - and he picked it to take a photo of it. :) ]

"So for those of you that did not know the importance of this date, you do now. Leif Erickson was a Scandinavian viking and explorer who was really the first one to land on North America, after the Native Americans that is. He got here before Columbus did, about four hundred years before him. Just something fun to share. :)

This week...... well, for some reason, it is particularly hard to recall what went on. Monday, because it was our Mall P-Day, we went to the mall and some of the Elders got some stuff, like a certain brand of clothes or whatever. We then went to this one store, called 'go' I think, and there was a lot of Star Wars stuff there. It was very hard not to buy ALL of it. Besides the fact that I do not have that much money, but hey, Star Wars. So the only thing that I did get was a calendar. A Star Wars calendar. Oh yeah. Sorry about the picture quality though. It is for next year, and it has some cool pictures with a SW quote on each one. Maybe I will send the picture at the beginning of each month. hmmmm

On Wednesday, we had district meeting, and the zone leaders came and brought the other two elders that are with them so it was a bigger meeting than normal which was fun. the picture of the road was my companion and I waiting for them because they were picking us up, but they were about twenty four minutes late. Nice.

We had exchanges with the zone leaders on Saturday and so Elder Saddler stayed with me in Bremerton, and we had quite the time. We met a lady who was pretty chill, and let us come back and talk to her and her husband about the gospel. They have both had difficult lives and find it hard to believe that there is a god. Hopefully we will go back sometime and they will be willing to listen more. They also had a poodle that does not like people and so that was funny to watch as he hid behind them while he looked at us. 

We did some service for this one member who is moving to Georgia because he will be closer to family there, and we talked to him for quite some time. Turns out that he is or was a fine jeweler. He made over $50k in one day (before taxes that is). And he told us about all of these famous people that he met and interacted with because of his job. He met the Russian royal that killed Rasputin, if that means anything to you (that is pretty cool). He also has met a bunch of old time movie stars like Jimmy Stuart, and a bunch more but I can not ever seem to remember names very well. Anyway, he is a really cool guy.

Elder Saddler and I ended up knocking for about five hours straight. And we ran into this one lady who said, about her neighbors, that God should "strike that house like Sodom and Gomorrah". No joke, that is what she said. 

So that was way fun, and Saddler lost his name tag before he came over, so he had to borrow one of mine, and that was funny when people looked at our tags and were way confused. 

I do thank you all for you concern for me and for those of you that wonder, I am getting fed enough and I am doing fine. :)

My foot is also better. :)

Do not forget to smell the roses, because they are only there for a season

love yall

-- 

Love from Elder Reed

Hymn 152"

Oct 2nd, 2017 update

[The title of Elder Reed's email this week was "Bowling, Bus Ride, Birthday, and something else that starts with a B to make it a good alliteration :)" - i love it!]

"Well, this week went by quick, almost none of the days were normal. 

On Tuesday, our zone had interviews with the President. Because of some meetings and appointments in the rest of the day, we were able to use one of the sisters cars for the rest of the day, which was nice. Oh, and I will talk about Monday first. Man, my train of thought is way wak. Anyhow, Monday. With four of the missionaries in our zone having birthdays this past week, we had a 'party' and went bowling for a zone activity. I did not do very well, but I did tie for first of the people on my side. That made me feel good :) . The Elder who shares a birthday with me, Elder Terry, got me a card, which I then wrote his name on it instead of mine because I felt that I should get him something in return. When the Sister arrived whose birthday it was that day, I wrote her name on it instead and gave it to her as well. It will be interesting to see how far this card will go. Once we got done with the game and went to the church building, we played gator ball, also known as speed ball. Whatever it was called, we would kick this ball around and try to get it into the goal. So, trying a little too hard (I was being goalie and defense on my team) I tried to get the ball away from my side of the court. I kicked quite hard, but Elder Terry kicked it out of the way first and my foot ended up hitting the wall. If Elder Terry had not been standing there for support, I would have fallen to the ground. It was quite painful. I was not walking correctly for about four days. My foot got so big that i could barely put it in my shoe. But, thanks to the first aid I learned from mom, twenty minutes on and off, and keep it elevated, my foot is better now, just a little bruising left :) . 

Wednesday was our Temple Trip. The closest one in Washington  is in Seattle which is about an hour away if traffic is good. It wasn't. Plus, we were all on a good ol' yellow school bus. I thought that I had seen the last of these things. I guess not. But we had quite the time. haha get it, time? (the picture). So, do you remember that one bridge that was way famous because it would sway back and forth like crazy when a strong wind blew, then one day it broke? Yeah so we drove over that bridge. It is rebuilt and more stable now though, but it is still pretty cool. Tacoma Narrows is its name. Way cool. On our way back it took even longer because of even more traffic, so that was a good time to get to know the other missionaries on the bus. Lots of talking time :) . 

Then we had weekly planning on Thursday, which would take way too much time to write about. Lets just say it takes a long time. 

On the weekend was General Conference. Wow. It was way way good. I don't know if it was just because I am in a different mindset then I was before, but I hope to now keep this mindset for the rest of my life. There was sooooooo much that I heard that just happened to coincide with what I was looking for. Elder Neil L. Anderson ended it in a fantastic way by reiterating what a lot of them had said and adding in what Robert D. Hales was going to say. It was just a great bunch of talks. 

Plus, I think reading the Book of Mormon is a good idea if you didn't pick up on that. :)

Real quick, I kinda want to know why everyone who reads these emails of mine wants to read them. I am just curious because all I am doing is telling about how my week went. Man, writing is such an insufficient medium in which to get your feelings across. Oh well.

P.S. In the WA-TAC apparently it is a thing to wear crazy socks, and Elder Baird's mom sent a bunch of socks for all of the elders in his zone because it was his birthday this past week as well, so now I have a pair of interesting socks. :) And I found a Buckeye! O-H!! I-O!! 

--

Love from Elder Reed

Hymn 152"

Sept 25th, 2017 update

"So, couldn't think of something to put for the subject, so, yeah. :) 

This week, well, now I have survived on this planet for nineteen revolutions around Sol relative to Earth. That in no way means that I feel that old. I really only feel like I am still about sixteen. It is weird. It is still pretty fun anyway, Elder Terry (he just got here this transfer) has the same birthday as I do, and a Sister Dorius has a birthday on Monday (today), and Elder Baird has his birthday on the thirtieth so we are going to have a zone birthday party, more info to follow next week. 

Knocking (or trackting, as it has been called i the past) has been very interesting this week as we have begun to re-knock in our area. Some of it was uneventful, but we have been actually meeting new people. I guess that they just must not have been home the last time that we knocked. After this last week, we actually got nine new investigators. That is a lot for this area, and I am excited to teach them. 

We are going to go to the Temple this week, which I am super excited for because it is going to be the first time that I will get to go to a large Temple. Apparently for these big ones, you don't need to make an appointment because of how much room that they have. Way weird, but only because I have only been to smaller Temples. But just because they were smaller, does not mean that they are any less Templey. That isn't really a word, but whatever. :) 

So, the zone leaders got into our apartment because they had a appointment in our area, so they decided to go to our place for lunch. He found my camera. Then we went out knocking with them, which was pretty fun.

sooooooooooooooooooooooooo

yep, till next time

--

Love from Elder Reed

Hymn 152"

[Elder Reed received a package from home this week, which included a huge container of tic tacs. In order for them not to shake and make too much sound, his sister had taken the tic tacs out of the container, put them in a snack-size ziplock baggie, and (to tease her brother) had stuffed the baggie back INTO the tic tac container. It took her several minutes to get the task done, and in reply once the package arrived, her brother just said "i completed the challenge in only six minutes." LOL - and he took pictures of the process...]

extraction process

that's a lot of baggie in that little container

snack baggie on the OUTSIDE of the container - success! :)

Sept 18th, 2017 update

"Alrighty, let me see if I can remember enough of this last week to fill up an email with it. 

This week has been a very interesting one. I don't know if you all know, but there are a lot of cannabis stores in Washington nowadays and it is a little concerning. On Sunday, we were getting a ride home with a member of the bishopric and we started talking about it for a while. Apparently, the stores are very well kept and nice and clean. He went in one once with a friend for some reason, but he did not buy anything, don't worry. :) He described it as a place that was very friendly and all of the people in their were very nice. It is interesting because people are smoking tobacco less, but pot seems to be on the rise. It is almost better to smoke tobacco because it doesn't impede judgement, and it costs a lot less. People are weird sometimes. 

Speaking of weird, on Monday, we got into the gym of one of the buildings after we had lunch, and in come two chickens. no joke. missionaries are very weird sometimes. :) I should know. Just another day in the WA-TAC.

The past week and some of the days before, there had been a lot of smoke in the air. Just to be clear, there was so much smoke that I could look directly at the sun for however long that I wanted. That is how much smoke there was. It was really crazy. There was also ash FALLING from the sky one of the days. It was really interesting because I have read a book were that sort of thing happened a lot and it was cool to actually experience it. 

So the first eight pics are of when Elder Kamerman and I went knocking together for a while and we were right beside the Pugent Sound. So I touched the Pacific Ocean for the first time. Super cool. Plus the sun was setting and I got some cool pictures of that too. The other pictures are of the outside of my apartment this morning. It looked very nice. And the final picture is of me with my jacket on. I got my first taste of Washington rain yesterday and that was fun. I am super glad that the jacket works well, shout out to my dad who let me have it. 

Well, I believe that this is the end of yet another update for this week. Ummmm....... 

yep can't think of anything else

--

Love from Elder Reed

Hymn 152"

[Like a Bob Ross painting!]

Sept 13th, 2017 update

[So you know, the title of his email was "Another One"... :) And we'll put lots of pictures first this time!]

[who would have thought Neil would ever don a cowboy hat?!]

"So, it is actually quite hard to come up with an interesting subject line on these emails, so please, do not judge too hard. Thank you. 

For those of you that were wondering, this week's P-Day is on Wednesday. That is because we had a mission tour this week. What this means is that a general authority came and gave a training for the missionaries. He probably did other important somethings, but I just don't know what they are. Elder De Hoyos of the Seventy was the one that came, and the first time I saw him he reminded me of an actor. Look him up and see for yourself. But anyway, the instruction that he gave was very enlightening. They would ask questions and wanted the missionaries to answer. Sometimes, no one would put their hands up, so I kinda ended up giving a lot of answers, thought I let other people go before I would try. It was very cool as I believe that the answers that I gave were alright. So some of the stuff that I have been studying has talked about how knowledge is light or something like that, and so I have really been clinging to that, how our light increases whenever we learn something. Going in back to when I said 'enlightened', make sense? I have been seeing a lot around me as to how light is something that we must continually look for. Super cool. I hope you all don't mind the way in which I write, spontaneously switching from subject to subject. I think I will now separate my thoughts by paragraphs. (probably should have done this earlier)

On P-Day last week, we had a zone activity that was a hike. For about 4 hours. It was fun, till we realized that we didn't really know we were going, or how far down the trial that we were. So that was super exciting. Those are the pictures below. Some of them are from Elder Struble's camera. He is going home this transfer, I'm going to miss him, he is pretty awesome. He is the one in the blue shorts that is not me. 

Transfers was this past week as well, only one of the sisters in my district got moved, but the other district in my zone, all of them are training a new missionary. All of the new Elders are pretty awesome. I have already been able to knock with one of them. 

Well, I am now to the point where I don't really know what else to write so I guess that means this is the end of it. :)

--

Love from Elder Reed

Hymn 152"