Thank you so much for the email mom. I am glad to hear everything is going right on back home. I litterally can't believe how much snow is in those pictures and tell everyone who was at Ashlee's party thank you for the birthday wish! Love them all.
Reply to your letter;
First of all that is so nice you missed school on Monday but I still think that walk way picture is so cool! Is it still snowing and blowing or do you think you're back at school for good now? Winter sports sounds like it will be super fun! For your intmraural you should have a 3 on 3 basketball tournament! You, Miskin, and Wilkes could have a lot of fun with that and it would be so cool to watch. I am glad they are at least doing winter sports and giving the kids something to look forward to. I am so glad to hear about the boys basketball! I am so hoping they whip Sugar tonight and go to state! Please send me an email of the final score! I am super happy for them and not upset at all. Sure it is tough and when I think of last season and the fact I never went to state in basketball kinda makes me sad but that's life. I love what you said that I have gone through these losses and I don't know why we could never beat sugar in districts but I do know it was Heavenly Father's plan and honestly every time I get shut down or made fun of because of my Spanish I think back to the Marsh game last year and realize how much I've overcome. Another reason why sports is amazing.
Taylor is such a good missionary. Head and shoulders above me that's for sure. It's true I thought when I got here it would be a bunch of us and everyone has the same purpose of working hard and being mature but nope. Elder Williams and I were talking and he was like it's kinda like a high school, but I won't allow myself to be inmature and won't get into any of it so I am taking his advice. Taylor will be an amazing missionary and I'll try to send him a text today.
My Week;
First of all my birthday was amazing and so much fun! We had interviews with President on my birthday and it was so cool. We talked about how increasing our faith would help Elder Williams and I achieve the Lord's Vision for us in Basin City and it was so motivating and I really feel like we are going to see miracles this week! Then we came home and had dinner with the Shaws and it was so awesome (I'll send some picutres) the best part was they got some lemon meringue pie and it was so awesome! I did recieve everyone's package so thank you all so much! The birthday on the mission was really cool and I am glad I could celebrate it here in good ole Basin City.
This week we did a lot of tracting. We went through the trailer park and did a lot of practicing my Spanish and door contacts and it was good but also frusturating. I will say something and then they get a confused look on their face, and then look at my companion but I am sure everyone deals with this too but I know with the Lord's help anything is possible. We met a lot of nice farmers and got to meet with Joe a couple of times this week and he is super nice. We taught a good restoration lesson so hopefully he prays about the church and gets his answer.
My spiritual thought this week was from Stake conference yesterday. We watched it with the Shaws (best family ever) and two things stood out to me. First the Temple President shared an awesome story about this lady having a dream of two missionaries coming and then 2 days later they came and she was baptized. But what stood out to me was the missionaries felt prompted to knock that street and he said it was the 3rd house when they found her. They got rejected twice and maybe have wondered, "Why are we here? Nobody is going to let us in." Then a miracle happened because they didn't give up and I have an absolute solid testimony to know the darkness comes always before the light, great things will happen! I love this so much and it was so awesome to me to know someone is here in little Basin City that needs to hear this message from Elder Williams and I.
The second thing I loved was President Larson talked about what eternal life is. He broke it down into 3 simple steps of defining eternal life and I loved it. First he said what is eternal life? 1. It is knowing God and living in His presence, we know God by 2. serving God. We serve God by 3. serving others. Mosiah 2:17 when we serve others we are serving our Heavenly Father and I know we don't have to endure this life alone but we can endure it together. The best way to overcome self pity is to reach out and help someone else and from serving, we will feel the love of our Heavenly Father in our lives.
I love you all so much and thank you so much for the love and prayers! I hope you have a fantastic week!
Love Elder Reiley
Pictures:
sunrise
Birthday (the hat was their family tradition)
birthday presents
Elder Williams with some baby goats
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