Hi Family and Friends!
Wow! What a week! Okay first off. I got a transfer call on Saturday and I'm going down to Clayton, North Carolina to open an area! Right now there are only Spanish Elders down there so Hermana Phillipy and I are going to be the first Hermanas down there. So it will be English and Spanish. As my mission president said it will be an adventure and we will have to find the Hispanics but we can do it. I am really excited to have this opportunity, but I'm a little nervous. It will be different being in an English ward and teaching English people and Spanish. Now I'm REALLY going to get a southern accent. My new companion will be Hermana Phillipy who is one of the other Hermanas in the branch so I know her pretty well already. She is from Washington and knows a lot of Spanish. She started her mission in Peru and came home after about 6 months for health reasons, then served in Washington for a few months and then got called to the Virginia Chesapeake Mission. So she has been a missionary for almost two years. She goes home in August. I'm really excited to be her companion! There's a lot that I can learn from her. On Wednesday we'll be heading down to NC together to embark on our new adventure.
On Wednesday I went on an exchange and this time I stayed in my area and my companion left. So I had to make all the decisions and talk to the people by myself. The Sister Trainer Leader knew a little bit of Spanish, but I was mostly teaching the lessons. It was good for me to realize how far I have come with Spanish, with teaching, and with talking to people and knocking on doors. I just finished my 12 week training so I am officially not a "greenie" anymore. I am, as my mission president called us, seasoned. After the day of exchanges was over I realized that Heavenly Father had answered my prayers as I had been praying to be able to understand and teach clearly by myself. That day He only allowed me to teach the investigators that I can understand the best. There are some where I have to still guess what they're saying and some talk way too fast for me. But the two lessons we taught were with people that talked slower and clearer than most of my other investigators. Heavenly Father was watching over me.
On Saturday my companion and I had a really cool experience as we were knocking doors. One of the doors we knocked a girl who looked like she was about 23 or 24 answered the door. In kind of an annoyed tone she asked who we were. We explained we are missionaries and she told us she is an atheist. We paused for a minute kind of taken back by her response because we had never talked with an atheist before. Then my companion started talking about the prophet and General Conference and how we were inviting people to watch. We were both thinking this is probably not going to go anywhere, but then she asked where the church was and if we believe in baptism. She said her boyfriend is religious and their are going to have a baby soon and he wants the baby to be baptized and to have a religion. I started to talking to her about baptism and how children aren't baptized until the age of eight so that they have the ability to choose. She said that makes sense. So we just had a great conversation and just as she was about to close the door to say goodbye she said, "That's crazy. I was just talking about this the other day how I need to find a church and then you guys show up on my doorstep." So cool! The Lord is definitely preparing people to hear the gospel. Never be afraid to talk people about what we believe, even if they are Atheist.
Sunday was really sad as it was my last time in the branch. These people have a piece of my heart. Hopefully, I will be able to serve here again later in my mission. A little tender mercy from the Lord though was that the last hour of church was combined with everyone so we were all in the same room together and I could say goodbye and take pictures.
The Church is true. The more I study it the more it makes sense. We have it all. The Gospel is one of the greatest parts of Heavenly Father's Plan of Happiness. If we abide by the Lord's teachings and the instruction of His prophets we will be so much happier in this life and life hereafter. I hope you all will watch General Conference this weekend and ponder on the revelations these great men and women have received to help instruct us. Ponder the impressions that come to your mind as you listen. I love when Conference is on Easter Sunday. The Church just put out a video on helives.mormon.org. You all should go check it out. Christ lives! And loves us! And I love you all! Happy Easter!
Hermana Reed
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