Elder Carson Reiley: Oct. 11-17, 2020

Hello everybody!

Well I finished my first week of Home MTC and it was a roller coaster of excitement and nervousness but it was also really really good! I'll start out by saying that I have received my reassignment to the Kennewick Washington Mission! That mission is right next door to the Vancouver Washington mission that my oldest brother Jaxon served in. I'm super excited to be able to go and have this great experience in Washington. At first I was confused and I kept asking the question, "Why wasn't I called here originally? Why have my eyes set on Mexico if all along I am going to serve in Washington?" I was really confused but then we had a missionary devotional and the speaker was talking to missionaries that have been reassigned and she said, "Your plan that Heavenly Father has for you has not taken a back road because the main road is closed, this is your main road." That hit me really hard and I realized that this is Heavenly Father's plan for me to serve in Washington and be able to share the message of the restored gospel with these great people!

The MTC is really interesting at home, I have classes pretty much all day long and when I'm not in class I am studying a lot of spanish. I really like my district, they are all pretty much from Utah except one Edler is from Nampa Idaho and another Elder is from Cheyenne Wyoming, other than that everyone is from Utah. My companion is Elder Phillips from Brigham City Utah and I really like him a lot, the best thing about him is he is a duck hunter so we talk about that alot :). We actually prepared a lesson yesterday about service and how Christ served others and we have to give that lesson tomorrow with an investigator in zoom and guess what......... all of it is in ESPANOL. I'm pretty nervous but also trust the Lord that if I prepare myself I will be able to teach with the spirit. I have one class in the morning from 8-11 and that is with Hermano Martinez, I really like him! He is really enthusiastic and brings a lot of excitement to class and also speaks pretty good English which helps a lot when he is giving instructions. My evening teacher is Hermana Banda and she is a really good teacher too! She just struggles with English just like I do with Spanish so it's a little harder to understand what's going on but I'm still trying to learn as best as I can.

A scripture that I liked this week was in companion study and Elder Phillips and myself read John 14:18 which says, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." This was on my second day and I was feeling a little overwhelmed and stressed and I when I read this I was filled with peace and just knowing that concept that while serving my Savior, He will never let me be alone and will never leave me comfortless. Also during the Devotional I mentioned before, the thing that stood out the most to me is something that the speaker said and it was a simple phrase that said, "Find the Happy in the Hard" When I heard this I understood that a mission is hard and learning Spanish is hard, but when we focus on the happy and find the Lord's hand in our lives helping us learn and grow that will bring us joy through difficult trials.

Thank you all for your prayers and support! Love you all!

Love Elder Reiley