Hey
Guys!
We had changes
yesterday. President Crapo gave me a new assignment, so now I'm district
leader. Two new elders are coming to my district tomorrow, so I don't have to
take dats [information regarding the number of people met and taught during the
day] for anyone else tonight, but tomorrow, I have to do it. I'm not
exactly sure about what I am doing, but I know that the Lord will help me
figure it out.
My district has only 4
people. They are:
-Me (Elder Reed)
-Elder Villar from
Lima, Peru, 18 years old has been out for 6 weeks
-Elder Yama from Monterrey,
Mexico (I don't know how old he is) has been out for 18 months
-the new kid that gets
here tomorrow
We'll see what
happens.
This week has also
been a little stressful for me. The work is advancing very slowly here in my
area, but we'll be able to see some changes soon.
Funny fact: 4 days ago
I was talking about leadership with Elder Borjas, my old district leader. We
were talking about how hard it would be to be leader, because you don't have to
worry only about the salvation of the people who you work with, but the people
of the other areas, and the missionaries who depend on you to lead them. But
leadership as Jesus Christ defined it, is service. (So I've got to learn a
little bit more about how to serve other people. I'll tell you guys how it
goes.) But as Christ did not come to be served, or to exercise dominion over
anyone, he came to serve. He came to lead us in the way to life eternal. He
came to show us how to be better people. This is something I must do, as a
leader now. President told me, "Elder Reed, this assignment was not given
to you for your comfort." And it's completely true. Right now, I feel a
little overwhelmed. But the Lord does not call people because of what they have
done. Many times, He calls people in spite of what they have done. The Lord has
a work to do through us, and this will happen if, and only if, we do it His
way.
--
Elder Jeffrey Reed
Additionally, Jeff was
recently asked what advice he would give to kids who are considering a mission
after high school. Here is his reply:
Hola Hermana Stapley,
I have a couple
answers to your questions.
Q) What do you wish
you would have known about being a missionary before you left?
A) I wish I had known
how HARD it is. The mission is the hardest, most mentally and spiritually
exhausting thing that you can do, but also the most mentally and spiritually
rewarding.
Q) What is your best
advice for how to prepare for a mission (things you may have done or wish you
would have done)?
A) Best advice for
future missionaries:
a) MAKE SURE THE
GOSPEL REALLY IS IMPORTANT TO YOU. If it's not, or if you're going because your
parents want you to, or if you do not serious intentions in your heart to
preach the gospel, DO NOT GO. Wait 6 months, and during these 6 months, gain a
testimony of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and Jesus Christ.
b) Get out there and
practice. There are plenty of missionaries in our wards at home who need help.
Invite one of your friends to talk to the missionaries, and then go out to work
with the missionaries.
Q) What is the
funniest thing that has happened to you on your mission so far?
A) The funniest
thing...
There's too much that
happens on the mission to say that one funniest thing has happened. I don't
know how to answer this question...
Q) What has surprised
you the most about your mission?
A) What has surprised
me the most is that a missionary is not always a spiritual giant. Missionaries
are 18-21 year old kids that don't know too much about what they're doing. The
mission is not a place to develop a testimony, it is the place to help others
develop a testimony.
Q) What advice can you
give on how to prepare for living with a companion?
A) Be humble. A
companion can be an absolute pain in the neck or your best friend. I've had
both of these, and the easiest way to get along with your companion is serve
him, and focus on the good things that he does instead of getting annoyed with
every little stupid wrong thing that he does.
Q) What is something
that you've learned from serving as a missionary?
A) I have learned in
my time out here that the Lord shows us our weaknesses to make us strong. Also,
the Lord with never give us anything that is too hard to handle or too heavy to
bear.
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