"I'm an Elder... can I have a wand?"

Jan. 18, 2016

After an extensive discussion about how Dumbledore retrieved the elder wand and how Harry ended up with it an Elder that hadn't participated at all in the conversation looked up and said "I'm an Elder... Can I have a wand?"

HELLLLOOOOOO my dearest family and friends! How are my people? 

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who writes me letters and emails every week. You have no idea how much this means to me and how much it reminds me that I am loved. My heart is always so happy when I read about how you guys are praying for me and I just want to formally say THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I love y'all a whole lot.

This week has been crazy fantastic but also really challenging. So normally in YSA wards you don't get fed very often, however this week we were so incredibly blessed and we had people feed us lunch AND dinner every single day this week. LIKE HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN?! We were even double booked for dinners a couple of times. Ahhh this ward is so good to me. <3

That being said that means we have worked from 10:00 am until 9:30 pm every day and hardly stopped to take breaks which means we are exhausted everyday. But there is no greater feeling than hitting your head on your pillow at the end of the day and knowing you worked hard all day. 

So I sent a couple of voice recordings that I made that went over the things I did this week so you can listen to those if you want a break down of everything that happened, but I want to focus a little bit more on some of the bigger things that have happened instead of just typing out my schedule. 

On Tuesday we had the opportunity again to spend time at the Orlando Temple doing service. We spent the morning planting flowers and enjoying the company of all the missionaries in O-South. It is seriously one of the biggest blessings of this area to be able to be on temple grounds every week. For those of you at home I would strongly exhort you to GO TO THE TEMPLE every week, even if all you can do is sit on the grounds. I promise you that it will enhance your life and you will feel more peace on a day to day basis. 

On Thursday we had an incredible Zone Conference with Richard J. Maynes of the 70 and IT WAS SO GOOD! If you remember the talk from this last conference called "The Joy of Living a Christ-Centered Life" that was about the potters wheel being centered on the gospel... that's who came and spoke to us! Some of my favorite things he said were...

"We can't lead or draw others to the Lord unless we stand closer to Him than they."

"Be the missionary your mom thinks you are."

"You don't want to be the missing link in a story like this."

"This is a life or death situation."

"Thomas S. Monson doesn't need to make every decision. You get to make some of them."

"You're part of something that's big, and part of something that's rubbing forward."

He also taught us about having "Quality Gospel Conversations" or QGCs and that has made a huge difference in our work the last few days. It's been awesome.

On Sunday we watched the HUGE regional Stake Conference that was for the 14 south eastern states. It was a broadcast from Salt Lake and L. Whitney Clayton, Sister Rieves, Ronald A. Rasband, and Robert D. Hales spoke. IT WAS SO GOOD!! Some of my favorite quotes from that were..

"all in. 100%. Nothing held back."

"Stay the course, and stay on course."

"we become the product or sum of our decisions."

"to effectively serve others, we must see them through Heavenly Father's eyes."

"The temple is the safest place you can be."

"We cannot get home alone."

So it's been an incredibly spiritual week this week. We've taught lots of lessons to our few investigators, as well as several less-active and recent converts, as well as all of our lessons with members at dinner appointments. 

I hope you all know how much I love you and how much your Father in Heaven loves you too! Have a great week and don't forget to tell me about it! 

I love you more than all the fish the disciples caught by casting their nets on the right side!

--

     -♥- 

Sister Reid

"And one of the most beautiful things I have learned about wait is it's marriage to hope. Because in order to wait we must believe there is something to wait for, and hope is a revolutionary patience."

 

This is the Harry Potter castle through the trees... when we drove past it I screamed and Sister Lewis started crying a little bit. And then we struggled to take a picture in time. hahaha