Kumusta pamilya!

Thank you for sending your love! It helps so much in the Field as the days seem never ending. however, the weeks FLY by! I cant believe that it is pday again! Whooo! Today is one of my roommates bday so we are going to have a little party for her! And the exciting news is that I get my travel plans next Friday!! I am so excited to get out into the Field! I am ready to go and get'um! :).

Last Sunday was exciting! We all prepare talks sa Tagalog and the bishop will randomly call a sister and an Elder to speak. We finish singing the Himno, and our bishop calls my name. We will be hearing from sister reed today....My mouth drops open and i was so surprised! not even expecting it at all! my Tagalog isn't as good as the older missionaries here, pero, i was glad i prepared a talk. i talked for about 5 min in sa Tagalog. I spoke on the Pagbabayad-sala ni Jesucristo. Which is the atonement. The talk went well, i could feel the spirit flowing thoughts and words into my mouth. It was a humbling experience, i still have so much to learn and grow. The bishop said that he had someone else planned, but the spirit wishpered during sacrament that it needed to be changed to mine. Magandan. beautiful.

My pabarito/ favorite song to kanta  is Nearer my God to Thee. The Tagalog translation is even more beautiful. It means a coming or "nearing" unto my God possessive. That we posses our God by coming near unto Him. Also,  the plan of salvation is translated into Plano ng kaligtasan. kaligtasan means three different things. Salvation, safety, and security. This means that this is also the plan of safety and the plan of security. This plan secures us to God. every living soul is secure because of our savior. We are secure in Jesucristo.

On Thurs i witnessed a simple miracle of our Saviors love. I was having really bad back pain and it was hurting pretty bad. On the way to gym i said, by some miracle, jared (One of my dance trainers that fixs me, who also works at the mtc gym) would be at the outside feild to align my lumbar spine back in place. When we got to gym, he WAS ThERE! A tender mercy from my Heavenly Father, that he really does care about every aspect of our life. I know that he is there for us and cares for us.

I have been so blessed with good kasamas! I am with Sister Burntham and Sister keith and Sister brewer! We do splits together all the time! I always run and exercise with sister keith so we have have 2 good run workouts a day. We all laugh and make jokes together, pero, we also are very focused on learning our language and help lift each other up. It is easy to get down on yourself, but having the gift of good kasamas has made this experience 100 times better! I love these sisters so much and know that we will be forever friends. We love to sing and harmonize together. the spirit is always so strong when we kanta.

One of our Elders was on the verge of going home. i shared with him the scripture phil 4:13. we can do all things in the lord who strengthens me. Simple. Pero, so powerful! the spirit was so strong and brought me to tear as i was testifying of our saviors love for him. the spirit always directs my thoughts and everything i should say. i am learning to better rely on the spirit. it is a power tool that can make our lives better.

One of the Elder was speaking tagalog and saying what he was grateful for, he said Joseph smith and sister reed. haha, one of the elders wa like wow, sister reeds name was in the same sentence as Joseph smith! That means she is pretty important! It was really sweet. Our distriko is amazing!

Ingat po!! Take care! Mahal Kita! Love you all

Sister Reed

Airport 

Here we go!

First companion with our black name tags!

Temple on pday

WOW!  Look what I can still do!

Moses Lake missionaries

Sister Reed and her district sisters

Kamusta po kayo pamilya?!

 

 I love and think about you everyday! I am so nagpapsalamat to be a missiyonero!! Ito pinaka mahalaga paranasan ny buhay! An important experience in my life!  I would not take this experience back for the world!

 

I've been learning all the conjugations para sa Tagalog! I'm not even close in having them known. Pero, I know that the Lord will help me learn them! The philippinos mix up their p's and f's all the time!

For example, our teacher taught us that they will say welcome to the piesta (fiesta) or come to the farte farty??!(parte party) :) Haha, I could not contain myself and busted up laughing in the middle of class! I cant wait to hear them talk like that for reals!!

 

I made missionary history!!! They took a picture of all the missionaries in the MTC! We were in the MTC and took a panoramic shot of all of us! This is only the third time that they have taken pictures of a group of missionaries in the mtc. or so they say. It is the largest group of missionaries that they have ever had! Exciting time in church history this is. Grateful I am to be apart of it.

 

Gordon B Hinkleys son Richard G Hinkley gave us a Tuesday night devo! He said that there were 70,000 missionaries in the world! That no method or technology can substitute the missionaries  bring the spirit. Be said that we are arows in the quiver to help the lord. He said that the worst thing for a missionary to say is, I WISH I HAD! Regret. Never regret what we do in life. Instead say, I"M GLAD I DID! I think this can be applied to every ones life. Never regret what you do in life, be glad you did it! :) I was thinking that if i did everything that i wanted to, when i wanted to, i would have so many regrets bc it would not be in the lords plan for me. I know that i needed to be on my missiojn now, not earlier. my distriko has needed more strength. One of our Elders went home, we pray for him and miss him dearly. Another, is wanting to go home, i am trying hard to keep him here. We our distriko!

 

My MTC teacher Sister Briggs, whom i love said, " The MTC is like the celestrail kingdom. Outside is babalyon. When you work the spirit hits you like a ton of bricks. It is a reverent place." My other teacher Bro Kovach said once, "You are the panel of Gods Angels, what do you think?". Being endowed with power on high is a huge blessing! I have seen, felt and witness the spirit stronger in my life. The power it brings to me is so delicous!! I feel nearer to my God than I ever had before. I know He is there. I sang with the choir for the devo. We sang Near my God to Thee. One of my favorite songs sa Tagalog! Thinking about the song, The fire of our trails purifies us. I know that the Lord doesn't put us into deep water to drown us, but to cleanse us. Trail make us want to be better. Once the trail is over, the fire is gone and we can be mailable to the savior. His cross lifts us up.

 

Brother Richard Heaton said that the more you see his hand in his life, the more your faith will grow.  That our objective as missionaries is to have greater faith that the lord id ding His work, so you can  align yourself to help the lord do his work. I know that i need faith to recognize what the lord is trying to teach me.

 

Alam ko po na totoo po ang simbahan ni Jesucristo ng mga banal sa mga Huling Araw.

Alam ko po no mapagmahal po ang Tagapaglitas.

Mahal po tayo ng Diyos, salita ny Diyos ang Aklat ni Mormon.

Nagbayad-sala po si Jesucristo para sa mga kasalanan natin.

Tinutulungan po ng Diyos any Kanyang mag anak dito sa mudo.

Sa pangalan ni Jesucristo, amen.

 

Pabarito ako!! 2 Nephi 31:20-21

2 Nephi 4:20-21

Mosiah 24:14-15

 

Mahal Kita!!

 

Sister Reed

Second week at the MTC

Dear Pamilya,

 

This has been the longest two weeks of my life!! Putting in 16 hour days are not so easy when you are sitting all day! I have seen so many friends here! I saw Sister Calder and Sister Tucker and Elder Coulston from Moses! I also saw tons of friends teaching here from BYU. It makes me a little home sick to see them all, knowing that i am not going back to school in the fall. And yes I saw Sister Bates! She is in the other Philippines Zone than I am! I love missionaries.

 

We do the same thing every day, my favorite time is gym time!! I love love love running and stretching! Everyone always runs by and says, Sister Reed, you are so flexible!! Its weird not being with all the dancers. I have missed dancing so much, but I know that putting those things aside for 18 months i will be blessed in other areas in my life. I love wearing my black name tag! I know that i am representing Jesus Christ in everything I do.

 

When My casama and I were teaching Nila, we asked her if she would be baptised! The spirit was so strong!!! She said yes! And she said that it felt like God was talking to her through us. What an amazing miracle. Because i am set apart as a missionary i can be a tool to share Gods love for her and help nila know how to change. I could feel the presence of God with us and feel the miracle for ministering of angels. I hope to share taht gift with the people of the Philippines even if I cant communicate how i would like to.

 

We learned yesterday that in the Philippines we tell which way to go through our lips, you point which way to go with your lip and say ita, iyan, or anyhting then point with your lips! Haha it was so funny. You also saw yes with your eye brows by lifting them up. Its is so funny to do them at the same time! They say the Philippians are the best kissers haha :)

 

We did kick boxing at 6am for sisters gym time!! The gospel isnt the only thing we learn here at the mtc! Watch out! :)

 

Fun Fact: There are buggers all over our walls in our residence halls! We think boys occupied these dorms before sister moved in! Nasty!

 

Deu 31:6-8

 

Mortality is a period of testing, a time to prepare to prove ourselves worthy to return to the presxence of our fatehr in heaven. in order to be tested, we must sometimes face challenged and difficulties. At times there appears to be no light at teh tunnels end. no dawn to break the nights darkness.. if you find yourself in such a situation, i plead with you to return  to our HF in faith. he will guide you. he will not not always take your afflictions from you, but he will comfort you and lead you with love through whatever storm you face. Pres Thomas S monson.

 

Mahal Kita!!

 

Sister Reed

First week at the MTC...

Dear Pamilya!!

 

Life here in the MTC is going great!! I am so busy, everyday. I have classroom instruction for 6 hours every day! Yah...And we have to wear our shoes the whole time! I realized that I am used to dancing all day, no wearing shoes...my poor feet :) I love having gym time or exercising in the morning. It helps to clear my mind. They are pushing us hard to learn the language fast!! They recently have shortened the time to learn Tagalog so it is the same amount of time as Spanish. 6 weeks! I am out of the MTC Aug 12! I taught my first investigator yesterday! Nila! After two days of being exposed to the language, we prepare a lesson and give it, with no notes! But the spirit helped me and reminded me of the words i needed to say. I can pray, tesify and commit others in Tagalog! I can also introduce myself and have a short convo. I was pretty impressed with me and my casama Sister Burnum. She is a sweet heart and loves the gospel! She is from Arizona. We make a good teaching team :)

 

Its really hard for me to stay awake from sitting all day, we have firesides all the time! sometimes i start dancing in my chair, one time our teacher caught me, haha, I am trying not to... On the 4th of July we got to watch 17 miracles, Elder Lanney from the 5th quorm of the 70 talked to us about being humbled and Chirst will lead us by our hand. We also got magnum ice cream bars!! Best ice cream ever! And then they had special fireworks for us!!

 

I do love the MTC, so far :) The first day we walked around with our orange dots. Every would say, welcome to the MTC! My camasa would call them dork dots :)

We had the largest group of missionaries come to the MTC. 841 missionaries entered the same day as me! HOLY COW!! HERE WE COME :)

 

My distict has 6 Elder camasa's and 2 sister camasa's! The boys are all 18 years old or maybe if im lucky 19. I feel like i am in the MTC with ELders Nicks age! It's like I am helping my little brothers. My casama is 21 and the other sisters are 19. It has been exciting to learn with them. Our zone is the largest zone the Philippines have ever had! I love how much the missions are growing.

 

I have been truly blessed here. i have been the fastest learner in my distict to learn Tagalog. It has a little spanish, chinese, french and sounds like islander. The structure of the language is all mixed together and backwards so i apoligize if my sentences start to not make sence. The gift of tounges comes little by little. My MTC teacher Elder Kovach always says Tagalog, Tagalog, Tagalog! The more we speak the faster it comes. We are learning through a program called Speak Your Language or SYL. I love using the TALL program on the computer to listen to how the phrases are pronounced.

 

In a fireside someone quoted Elder Holland. He said that, Listening to the spirit should drive your lesson. Thats when the lesson no longer becomes yours, but His. This is when the earth trembels and the earth shakes. Thunder pounds into the investigator and the missionary. This is one of my goals. To fully trust the the Savior to listen to the Espiritu Santo. I want thunder to pound into the investigator and have the spirit hit them so strongly that there is no way that they can regect the message of coming to JesuCristo.

 

This is the Scripture that I am going to put on my black plack!!  Dand C 84:88 And whoso reciveth you, there I will be also, for  i will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and my angels round about you, to bear you up.

 

I know that we are never alone. The spirit can be close to us. More importantly, the Savior can be close to us. I know that my Redeemer lives. I know He is minful of me. He is watching out for us. I know He loves me, and I love Him. I will serve Him with my full heart, might, mind and soul.

 

Mahal Po Kayo! (I love you all)

 

Sister Reed

So excited to be a sister missionary!

Mission Ready :)

MTC

I leave to the Provo MTC tomorrow!! July 3rd, 2013!! Here comes the start of the greatest 18 months!