December 6-12, 2021

 no letter?

Hey everyone!

It has not been the easiest week but we are pushing forward and doing good! Thanks for the updates on everything going on in California and school. My prayers are definitely with the Stiles family today with the Funeral of Austin and I pray everything will go as good as it can be for them. 

Respond: I love the story of Jesus and His birth. Everything about it just brings the spirit so strong. I also didn't realize that scripture and the significance of "you". He really was a gift from our Heavenly Father and he does love us a lot! Also thanks for the ball updates. Matthew sent me the video of Ty's dunks.... whoa they are really impressive but hopefully they can turn it up a notch and get things locked in and good for the girls to whip wj and Marsh! How is sugar and south looking for girls and boys? Dang we had to lose to BYU but I am glad Justin had a good game and they just gotta keep it up for the tournament! But again with the funeral today I hope it all goes well and there can be light and joy in such a difficult time. Let me know if I can call and talk to any of them and I am more than happy too but I love them and I love you guys so much! 

My Week: Like I said it wasn't the easiest week here in Benemerito but we duck our heads and we keep pushing forward and do the work of the Lord. This week we saw a lot of cool miracles and we are getting ready for the Christmas season!

On Tuesday it was a really good day actually! We got up and had a lesson with a lady we found and she is super nice and humble and loves that we talk about eternal families! Then we went to the church and had our District council which is always good then went out and worked. Well we had our lunch canceled on us so we went to another member at 3 and ate albondigas and then left and walked and then that night we did service with members and had a fun activity and played soccer. Also two elders came down that night to spend a couple of days with us so it was cool to have them there. 

Then we spill the bad news and Tuesday night I started feeling really really sick and let's just say I spent a good part of the night on the bathroom floor by the toilet so it was rough. But the Lord blessed me because all of the elders there gave me a blessing and I did get some rest but then most of the day Wednesday I felt awful as well. Towards the night I felt better so we left but then a member works at the hospital and told me to come so it was an interesting day and I can now say I have been in a hospital in Mexico.

Thursday I felt a little better and we sent the other elders off and had a good day. We took it pretty slow with everything and did some work on the phone and contacted a lot of people and also visited some members and they are really nice and took care of me! 

Friday and Saturday we did a lot of passing by referrals from members and the other missionaries. We found a really cool family who loves the message but the missionaries just stopped going by in the past so we are so excited! Also we had an awesome miracle happen. We found this guy named carlos who sells ice cream on his bike so we met him in the street and he said he wants to come to church so we took his number (which didn't work) so we had no way to contact him but on Saturday we prayed in the morning to find him and it was in the evening and we had a member lesson cancel and we were looking for the member but never found him and we were walking back to the church and lo and behold here comes Carlos on his bike right past us so we talked and reminded him about church and got his right number! I am reminded again that the lord has a step by step second by second plan for us and as long as we follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost we will follow His plan! Then Carlos did come to church yesterday and it was the first time an investigator has come to church here in 6 months so the Lord blessed us like crazy!

Right now I am reading in Mormon in the Book of Mormon about the battles and the last times of the Nephites because of their wickedness. It is pretty sad to read about and realize how the Lord wanted so badly to bless them but their hearts were so hard He couldn't. It one of the verses Mormon says something like, I will preach because I know this is our last battle. I know that isn't word for word but I was thinking how that would be, knowing this would be my LAST battle and what would I do? How would I feel? I try to take that motivation and imply it in my own life because we never really know when our last battle is, so we can give it our all! I love you all and hope you have the best week! 

Love Elder Reiley