Week 99 - the last month + picture

Hey guys!!!!

Ya. Ishkame'ek- Llego el fin. I don't know how many different ways I can say it, but I'm really in the final countdown now.

Don't worry, I’m still working hard, I'll keep working until I drop. The Lord didn't ask me to give 23 months, he asked for 24, and that's what I'll give.

We've got a couple interesting projects. We're working on taking all the recent converts and getting them to the temple. If all goes well, we're going this Thursday with everyone. It's going to be very special to have everyone who hasn't gone there, especially that we're allowed to go too.

This week was interesting because we worked very hard, without seeing too many results. One day, we were literally door knocking for 5 hours, and no one would let us in. I'm used to that by now, that's happened countless numbers of times to me in the mission. I don't complain about that anymore. After making a huge effort to find new people, a bunch of new people literally appeared out of nowhere, which is another testimony builder to me that God puts people He wants you to bless in your path. That's the way it's always been for me in the mission. This work isn't mine, and it never has been mine. It belongs to the Lord. I honestly think that that is the most important thing for a missionary to remember. This is not OUR time. Our time comes afterwards.

Love you Guys! See you soon!

Week 98 - Last interview with the mission President

Hey Guys!

So this week’s been pretty cool. They sent Elder Santos, one of my companions when I was in Puerto Barrios, to the Maya, so the district meeting was literally almost uncontrollable. Poor zone leaders. They also made me district leader for my last change, so I have to keep myself on my toes and work little harder to help not just my area, but 2 areas, so that’s interesting.

The major event of the week was my last interview with President Crapo. Normally, he doesn’t do them so early in the change, but that's because he will be going home 3 weeks before me so he did mine early. On Friday, I got together in the morning with elder Santos, and we went to Zona 10 of the capital. We got together with elder Nawahine, my companion from the CCM (the missionary training center), and Elder Suman, another friend from the CCM, and went and got doughnuts from Dunkin' Doughnuts.

From there, we all in succession had interviews with President Crapo. My interview was 3rd. We talked about my goals, about tips for dating and marriage, and things I have to do to maintain the Spirit after the mission. For me, it was a very spiritual and very faith-building experience to talk to my mission President about the future and know that there's a way to get through it.

From there, we went to go eat lunch at a place called TGI Fridays. I'm pretty sure it's a big restaurant in the States, but I had never seen it before, but I had a half back of ribs and a 1.2 pound hamburger there- it was literally the best food I've eaten in a long time. From there, we tried to get home, but there were no busses that passed to where we were going, the lines for the transmetro were super long, and there was a TON of traffic. We ended up being trapped in the city until about 7 a night, but that wa all right because we all knew each other from when we started the mission, so it was pretty cool to chill with the bros.

We've got a lot of cool projects going on right now. Thank you all for writing! See you soon!

-- 

Elder Jeffrey Reed

Week 97 - Jacob 7:26

"Y aconteció que yo, Elder Reed, empece a envejecer... ...el tiempo se me ha pasado,y mi vida también ha pasado como si fuera un sueño."

There is nothing weirder than knowing that you go home in 42 days, and that each day time goes ticking by a little faster. I am officially in my last change of the mission, and I have a month and a half left. The weeks go ticking by very, very fast. Any day now, I'm expecting my last interview with President Crapo. He goes home on June 30th, and 3 weeks later, I come home.

These are feelings you can't describe. In the mission you give all of yourself, and then they pull you out of your mission country. And you come back and you realize that time has passed you by when you get back to the States. Ishkaamek... ("It's all over" in qeqchi).

The work’s really great right now. There's been a lot of good investigators appearing out of nowhere, a lot of support from our ward, etc. This last week we had 2 weddings and 2 baptisms. I don't have the pictures, but I’ll send them to you when I get them.

Last week we had a three mission conference because Elder Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve visited Guatemala.  I “Be Still My Soul” in a quartet for the joint mission conference and got to meet Elder Renlund.  Also, I saw Elder Earl from Danville!  He is in one of the other missions.

I don’t have too much time right now, just letting you guys know that I'm alive, I’m doing well, and I'll be home soon!

Love you lots! See you soon!

-- 

Elder Jeffrey Reed

Weeking 96 - Chikingunya 2: Resurgence

Hey Guys!

Sounds kind of like a horror movie title, doesn't it?

Well, that's because it is. I've told you about this, but I told you about a year ago, the first time I had this sickness.

Chikingunya is one of the weird diseases that exists here in Guatemala that doesn’t exist in the United States. It is spread by mosquito bites and its symptoms are high fever, extreme pain in the joints of your body, excessive sweating, nausea, and migraine, all at once. It's literally the worst. I don't recommend it.  The point is that, more than a year ago, I had this for the first time. It had me out of commission for a whole week. This last week, I started having symptoms of this on Thursday, and the whole thing lasted about 2-3 days. Kind of a nightmare to be laying down in bed, and you want to get up and go work, but you can't because when you get up, your knees feel like they're 200 years old, and the room starts pulsing and spinning. Whatever. This time around it didn't last as long as the others.

Well, apart from that, interesting things that happened...

We finished building the house. :D

While we were walking along and talking to a contact, some guy ran up to a couple people who were close to us and threatened them with a machete.

While we were eating dinner in the house on Tuesday, some guy close to the house started screaming at the top of his lungs "YO ME SIENTO SOLOOOOO" (that means, "I feel alone") for about an hour and a half. Really weird. After asking the neighbors, we found out that that's normal, and that guys usually does that about once a month.

Something I’ve been thinking about lately is a promise in Doctrine and Covenants 50. I can't quote it exactly, but it says to the effect that a man who purifies himself of all sin and of all ungodliness becomes possessor of all things and that a person like that can ask in the name of Jesus and it will always be given unto him.

If there was any example of purity in the world, it was Jesus. He was pure, not just because he avoided sin, but because of his desires.  He desired ONLY what His Father desired. Being pure means taking of the sacrament every week and doing things to get better every week. It means laying down all your faults and all your flaws before Him and letting Him mold you and shape you into a better person.

Love you all! See you soon!