Atimonan

Dear Family, Wow, this week went by so fast! We did a lot of good work here this week! We got locked inside of our apartment twice this week. I don't think that Satan wants us to go out, but it didn't stop us. Our neighbor hammered off the lock for us. So that was nice of him. We had interviews this week this President which was nice, i had some questions about our investigators. I am grateful for his council to us, President is wonderful. We first taught sister Khiezel. She is 10 and lives with a member family. Her parents are divorced and have abandoned her. So the member is her guardian. She is so sweet and has come to church for about 2 years. So we are going to teach her and help her get into the book of Mormon so she can be baptized November 15. Sister Aizel is also a part member that will p[repare for baptism on that same day. I am excited for them to gain testimonies on the book of mormon. We are new to this area and it is huge! Especially bc it is part of the mountain, there were no maps in our area book so we got lost looking for our investigators, but ended up finding them :) There is no real address so maps are really important, but at least we have the spirit. It always tells us where to go. Most of our investigators need to be married before they can be baptised so we will see how great their desire is to be baptised. Also, like no one read the book of mormon when we first got her. So that has been our focus with all the investigators. One of our investigators doesnt have a leg. It just sways back in forth during the lesson. It reminds me to be grateful for my leg. We also taught brother Nickanor. He is 54 and sooooooooooooo receptive! He looks like a biker dude with a scarf around his head. You would never guess from his outside looks that his heart is humble and soft. Love you! Let us all press on in the work of the lord..... Love sister Red :)

I Have Been Transferred to the Bundok :)

Dear Family! I feel like I am camping in my new area! I am re-opening the area of Atimonan and training a new missionary. My comp is Sister Krisubnanu from Indonesia. So I can help her with English and Tagalog :). We are in a really far area so we are the only sisters in our zone. We are a province, which is the opposite of the city. It is just what i prayed for! We are also really close to the ocean :) And it is warmer here :) Yay! I am blessed in my last area, it is what i wanted to go to!! I love my new comp, she is so kind and loving and happy. Wow, i feel so blessed to have this in our last area. We got into our area late on Thursday. I traveled by myself to the mission home and got my comp in San Pablo. When we got to our apartment my comp said, " wow this is a sister missionaries home? I didnt except it to look like this"...I was embarrassed for her first home to experience that. I am guessing the sisters before us didnt have time to clean. So the next morning we spent anbout 5 hours cleaning the down stairs. We zonroxed that place up! There were bugs everywhere and had a gross smell....I have a testimony of having a clean home. I will never get tired of cleaning my home when i am a mom. I know a clean home is necessary for the spirit to dwell so we can receive revelation. The scripture kept coming to my ming, establish a house even a house of prayer, a house of fast.....It is next in sacredness next to the temple. I loved conference!! I left my notes at home, by I received so much revelation and feel empowered to keep going. This week we met with our bishop and auxiliaries. Yay! It was geat, They are kind and willing to help us. We are working on establishing the church and then we are giong to look for all their investigators that the sisters left. I am excited to start a new area. The ward keeps asking me when i am going home, they all say i am close, but i still feel far away. There is much to do. In my whole mission this is my favorite scripture Math 16: 15-16. On my mission i have been learning to take up my cross and my life, to find the eternal. To save my life is to give it back to him. It is a daily life of getting rid of the natural man and living the commandments of God. Being wiling to be public about our discipleship. To be an example. Our lives should be a confession of Christ. To put the Savior first and His work. It is living in harmony in his willing. And doing the things that are pleasing unto the Father. I know this is the work of God. I will forever stand as a witness to Him and his work. Mahal Kita!

sister splits

Well..this email will probably be really short. Monday, we went to Marinque for exchanges, it was great, our proselyting was literally a walk in a huge circle around the whole island. We taught some really good lessons and were working on resolving concerns of the people by helping them build a testimony and seeing if they just didn't want to commit. The BOM is always the center of our teaching to help them resolve their concerns. We came back on wednesday. The traveling literally take ALL day, we go on a jeep ride, then a boat, then another jeep, a tric, then a van back to Tayabas. We get really tired after our travels. President called me on MOnday! He said i was chosen by inspiration to train for my last 2 transfers on the mission! Yay! This is my favorite calling. I feel more qualified to train after this opportunity to be an STL. I hope i can train in the mountains or in a far area, i just dont want to be in the city. So , Thursday we went to the new trainers meeting in San Pablo. Except, we were stuck in traffic for 4.5 hours! I missed the meeting! Grabe, it took forever! President said it was fine since i have trained beofre. Then we had our MLC meeting with all the ZL and STL. This was on Friday. There is one thing that i loved that president said, He said there is too much labeling in this mission. If a area is too hard, if someone is disobedient, or if a certain missionary is a bad companion. He sadi that when we label people it means you are saying, "I deny the atonment of Jesus Christ". When we label people it is saying that people cannot change. And they can. We all have the ability ot transform and change. We can all stop labeling people for what they have done and accept the atonement and let them change. See their potential. Saturday and Sunday we worked in our area! The ward now calls me sister splits. Thats what they want to remember me as. Haha, i did that in our ward talent show. We had some great lessons and are focusing on the BOM to change them. I know they can change. The atonemtn works for those who lives the gospel of Jesucristo. Mahal Kita! SIster Reed ps pics on the island and us as the ZLs nd STL of Lucena zone :)

A Piece of Heaven.

Dear loved one, This week I experienced a piece of heaven. Through all the trials we have been going through, this Sunday made it all worth it. We have to know the hard to know the sweet. I was sitting in the sacrament room. There sat sister Roxanne our Recent Convert. Even though her mom is not very supportive of her being a member is not very nice and hard on her, she shows her increased faith of God. She is standing as a witness of Him for what she knows is right. She is a woman of faith. Then I noticed our LA sister Irene Matos was sitting in front of us with HER HUSBAND! There is a special spirit i feel when families are together as parents, a couple. She was so happy her husband came to church. She is returning back and showing her faith in Christ by keeping the commandments even though they dont have any money and there pamasahe she spent to go to the church was probably their food money. Then I looked to the left. There was Sister Allen Lado. Tears felt into my eyes as i saw her faith. Being a single mom at the house, her husband comes to visit once a year. She earns money by selling little candies she makes. We are teaching her the doctrine and she is understanding it and acting on it. Her daughters were there too. She has no money or food. But God always provides a was for his people to keep the commandments. I traveled to Lopez, it is up in the bundok and really far, to do exchanges. Then we had more exchanges in Tayabas. Today we are traveling to the island again to do exchanges, we are leaving in like 5 min! There is a festival here in Tayabas right now. Everyone is out and there are tons of beggars asking for money. They are celebrating the saint michael. Everyone will be drunk soon so its a good thing we are leaving to Marinduque. Love you! Sister Reed

"It's Me, MARIO!" :)

Hello po! Kaya, this week we had another storm typhoon. Its name was Mario. There have been 5 storms since Glenda. Grabe naman, malakas talaga. We didnt get to go outside to work that day bc the rain was so strong. We went on ex changes with the sisters in Candeleria. It was great! I pray every time that i will receive revelation for them and their area. I am blessed because even if i am so tired and have no energy, Heavenly Father always gives me enough. I get everything done that needs to get done. You never know how much good you do. Every little thing. You never know how much you can help someone. We have been working hard in our area. Everywhere we go there is something that goes wrong. Our investigators are dropping us like flies. One night we were walking on our way back home. Then i thought, awe, we should stop by sister Lorna! So we did and she was actually home. We were talking about the baptismal covenant that when you become a member, you hold the name of Jesus Christ in your heart. That we become his literal representatives here on earth. She said that she has goose bumps go all up and down her arms. She said she felt different. So we told her that was the spirit. She said, really? She said she has a desire to know what is true. She said its either Catholic church or the mormon church that is true. She has many questions and is happy to see us. This is a simple tender mercy from our Heavenly Father from our faith and obedience to Him. We had zone pday today at the church :) We played water games. yen lang yata, ubos ang oras ko. Mahal Kita Sister Reed

Following Christ

"Following Christ is not casual or occasional practice but a continuous commitment and a way of life that applies in all times and all places" Dallin H Oaks Dear family, This week my companion and i had an increased commitment to talk to everyone and increase our faith in him. Our goal this week is to talk to 100 people. This week we hit 80 OYMs. We really need to find new investigators, most people that we talk to are not interested in listening and walk away from us. Our investigator Edgar told us he didnt want us to come back. Because of this increased rejection, we must increase our ability to find and become master finders. We are asking referrals from everyone. All the trike drivers wives or family of our current investigators. We have seen a tender mercy. We received a referral that is actually interested in our message! Sister Ellen Naces who referred Roxanne to us our current Recent Convert also referred Lydia. She said that when she first saw us in their house she felt the spirit. She felt that her heart was light and then she had the desire to listen to us. In her head she sadi she wanted us to come and teach her. We taught her the restoration and committed to be baptized. She prayed correctly and said that she felt the spirit. She has a desire to read the bom and to come to church. We are excited to teach her and that the Lord per prepared us to meet her. Also in my OYMs this week i committed one of them to be baptised. Haha imagine this, i was riding on the back of his trike and we were talking about religion and our church. He asked about our religion and i talked about the gospel of Jesus christ and how we needed binyag to be saved. Then, i committed him to be baptised on Oct 26! He said YES! Another oym i told a man that only through this gospel could his family be sealed for time and eternity. If not they couldnt be together forever. He said, i want to know about this gospel, can you explain it to me", we tried to set a return apt but he is never home.... We had zone training this week! President didnt give us an outline, so as STL and ZL we came up with the training plan of the transfer. We focused it on a discussion and it went really well! I made sinigang this week! I am enjoying cooking philipina food! Maybe Ill cook it for you when i get home :) Masarap! We had exchanges this week in Barra, it was good, we worked with the sisters. President wants us to call the sisters to repent when they are not following the schedule or doing it the lords way, so we extended the invitation to repent to our sisters to raise the bar. Our LA have forgotten the doctrine. So we are focusing on teaching that to them and helping them become strong members. One of our LA joemilin was hiding from us dahil she knows that we will invite her to come to church. She sadi that she is angry with some of the members so she doesn't want to go back. We decided to start with the first step to read the BOM and she accepted. Our other LA are confused about the truth and going to the catholic church, we are focsing on the restoration and them receiving an answer of the truth. This area has a problem with drinking so it is hard for the people to be receptive, i am learning how to help others overcome their additions, repent and come to Christ. I find joy everyday in inviting others to come unto Christ. It is His invitation to the world. Mahal Kits! Sister Reed