Annnndddd now..... I'm on house arrest

August 31st


Well.. this week brought another change. I found out I had tendonitis in my OTHER foot, and that it could be caused by walking funny due to my bone spur in my LEFT foot. The dr. said if my bone spur is hurting, I should get surgery. President found out, and told me I should go home. I told him no... politely :) He told me again that it was a good idea to go home, and I told him that I didn't want to do that (my words exactly: "you know President... no, I think I can stay. I am physically able to walk, so I am GOING to walk."). He agreed to give me two weeks to make it better... if it didn't get better, or if it got better but then worse when I went back to work, I need to get it taken care of at home. He also tried to get me to stop working that night, but I told him that wouldn't work because we had appointments... Let's just say I have a reputation in the offices and with president now for being really stubborn. But, I think he finds it amusing, so it's all good! ANYHOO, Hermana dockstader and I are now comps for 2 weeks because she has foot problems too! and *drumroll please*.... we are working in the offices -- on President's laptop!! Sure didn't see that coming haha.... but yeah. It's kinda weird being around office elders all day long, and just sitting around, but at least I'm still here! I got to go to transfer meetings on Wednesday for the first time and MY WHOLE ENTIRE MTC FAM WAS THERE!! It was amazing!! Words can't describe how incredible it was to be together again... or the scream that Elder Harris (jaQuavious) let out when he saw me, and then heard me talk in Spanish. haha oh my... but yeah, we are living in a little pench 2 blocks from the mission offices. and we are living with another trio of hermanas... one of them is Hermana Howe, my MTC comp!! We have so much fun and I'm so happy I get to live with them for these next couple weeks! Thursday was a really interesting day. Since I can now speak pretty well in Castellano, President is sending us by ourselves to our doctor appointments. It was kinda scary at first because hermana dockstader doesn't really speak castellano yet... so I do all the talking. But it has helped me become more fluent, thank goodness! An interesting experience that happened thursday... we were walking  I thought it might be a good opportunity for references to give to the missionaries of this area, so I stopped by this little ring stand. I saw a little ring that looked like wheat (and I thought of the scripture in DyC about the field is white already to harvest) and asked the guy how much it cost. He was like "it's a gift, you can have it!" I immediately thought WHOOOA this guy is bomb, he's so generous..., I have to get his info to pass on as a referencia!! So I did, and then we left and I looked back down at the ring he had given me.... I looked at my comp and said "I don't think this is wheat...." Yeah, it was weed. MARIJUANA. I, as a missionary, SOMEHOW ended up with a RING WITH A MARIJUANA DESIGN ON IT!! The office elders got a pretty good laugh out of it... and so did my district... ok pretty much the whole zone. This would only happen to me... hahaha oh man. Never a dull moment when you're around Hermana Reeve! So now I have a weed ring as a souvenir. I have the weirdest luck in the world.... ugh. haha and then a bird pooped on me on the way home, so that was interesting.

My thought this week: Mosiah 3:7-- "And lo, he shall suffer temptaions and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death..." we often just focus on the whole "Jesus died for my SINS", and that is the main focus of his suffering. But... he died for even more! Pain, hunger, thirst, fatigue. Every sorrow we feel. And why did he do that? he did it so that He could know more perfectly how to help us in our times of need! So whatever you are going through... He knows. And knows because He WILLINGLY went throught it all for us :)

I'm sorry I don't have many teaching moments but... being stuck in the pench all the time doesn't really bring many of those ;) have a wonderful week everyone!!



the ladies of the casero pension! (before hermana tidwell left)




MY MTC FAM!!!




the new ladies of caseros.... HERMANA GULL is replacing hermana tidwell!! (ps I've kinda thinned out a lot from walking haha)




Hermanita Reeve-ita

I'M STAYING IN CASEROS!!

August 24th


Well... how do I put this - I like the city. Now, before yall start wondering where on earth Hermana Reeve went, lemme explain - I like the opportuniteis that come from serving in the city around SO MANY people!! Honking horns aren't music to my ears, but the sound of sharing the restored gospel IS! I also like walking so much... because I'm losing all that chub I got from the pasta in the country ;) so there are some very good things about the city! fun fact... la palabra "caseros" means "homemade". So I am serving in a homemade city! Haha! My comp is AWESOME, we get along fabulously and teach together in a harmony that is crazy good. Also, our apartment complex has a roof that we go on to do exercises in the morning sometimes. There are few thingsmore relaxing than stretching and yoga and headstands on the roof as the sun rises. Luckily, I bought fleece lined leggins to keep me warm :)

I don't have many teacing stories this week, but something really cool did happen. I was walking down the street and a random paper flew in front of me. It had the name "ELISA" written in caps. I don't know why, but this name really stuck with me for the rest of the day. Later that night, we knocked a random door of this lady. She was sad, and we found out that her husband of 63 years had died recently and she just wanted to be left alone. I started carrying a book of mormon in my hand whenever I'm out proseliting (i can't remember how to spell anything), and so I held up the book and told her that when my dad died, i found comfort in this book. She watched me for a while and said "this book REALLY helped you?" I nodded and said "and I promise it will help you." she accepted it and agreed to let us come back at another time. Guess what her name was....? Elisa. Yeah, God is real, and he is directing our eyes, feet, and thoughts to lead us to people. I know it!

Sunday was really great! I was asked to share my testimony in the ward because I'm new, and I had a bunch of ward members come up after and ask how long I had been here. When I told them two months, they asked how long I had studied Castellano before the mission. And when I told them I didn't, they didn't believe me!! One lady was like "well ok then, you definitely have the gift of languages, no doubt about that!" Then after this little 8 or 9 year old girl came up and started talking to me and was all shy... I told her she had beautiful hair and she said "no, you do! yours is soooo rubiacita (blonde... even though it's definitely light brown :p) and your eyes are such a different light brown color! que linda!!" haha I just love people here!

Anyway, I'm about out of time, but I love the poeople here, I love being a missionary more and more every day, I have an INCREDIBLE COMP!! The other day we were laughing about something, as usual, and she said "I haven't had this much fun with a comp in 9 months!" and I am so grateful for the help of my Heavenly Father in learning this language!! 

Love you all so much!!

my view from the pench!

MY FACE!! I decided I'd send one picture of myslef a week so I can look through them all after the mish and see how I've changed!

Hermanita Reeve-ita :)

FLASH!

August 17th


Well I am pretty sure that God just really likes throwing curveballs in my life!! It's a good thing I like baseball... So as some of you know, I have been having problems with my heel these last few weeks, and it was pretty scary not gonna lie. BUT I am still here in the mission, and I am planning on fighting to stay here for as long as possible! So sit back and enjoy this crazy week :)

Lunes: Well, monday night we tried to go visit some families... but we couldn't.. because there was 5 feet of water in the street! yep, not even exaggerating. Really. There was a stinkin boat in the middle of the street for people to get out of their houses. Sooooo... that was nuts. I wish I would have gotten a picture but that was the ONE day I didn't bring my camera!!

Martes: We went to the capilla for our district meeting that day, and then we also cooked spaghetti with the elders so that was fun :) after lunch, we stayed at the church with our branch pres, his wife, and a couple others to bake some food to take to a shelter where people were staying because their homes were flooded. So that was fun!! After we baked for 4 hours, we went to the shelter and handed out the food. These little kids were in a room watching a minion movie and we walked in with the box of food and they literally just swarmed us and started chattering and stuff and it was just the most beautiful thing I've ever seen :) So that night was pretty sweet!!

Miercoles: we went to visit an investigator that lives in campo campo..like way out in the country. and as we pedaled away, my bike slipped in the mud... so i went to put my foot down and it just sank. I don't think I've ever seen anyone laugh so hard as my comp and our investigators back on the porch... glad I could provide entertainment hahaha ;) later that night we visited our other investigator Raul and his menos activo sister Ariseli. My stomach always hurts after we leave because the two of them are just so hilarious together! they are totally brother and sister because they fight like cats and dogs! speaking of dogs... Ariseli has a dog named Lucila that always jumps on the table. sometimes she just gets really irritated with Lucila and in the middle of the lesson yells "LUCILA!!! BASTA!!!" and Hermana Mickelsen and I just get into laughing fits! Like I said before... EVERYTHING is funnier in Castellano!

Jueves: We had a lesson at the house of this really sweet couple (members). She makes the best pizza, and we had a really small lunch... so I found out that it was possible for my stomach to hold 7 slices of pizza! oops... I think I have a problem.

Viernes: We get a call from president Robertson... "Hey Hermana Reeve. what's your mom's phone number?" soooo basically that scared the living daylights out of me because I thought I was going home or something. He called me back a little bit later and said he was like 5 minutes from our pension (thank goodness we cleaned that week!). So President shows up. He asks if we have any investigators... we tell him we do. He said "Oh. Because if not I was going to have you pack your bags and come with me. We're having a flash." A flash is when a missionary gets moved in the middle of a transfer... aaaaand this is the second flash I've been in! haha! So apparently I will never be in a bicycle area again, which means I'll be in city city for the rest of my mission :( the city is way more dangerous than campo... so prayers would be appreciated. Haha

Sabado: we walked. everywhere. which took a while because we live in campo, so it takes forever to get around our area!! but I LOVE WALKING!! it's so much easier to stop and talk to people on the street!! We had a really good day that day.. lots of contacts and talking to people on the street. so much fun! I actually felt like a real authentic missionary! haha :)

Domingo: We had our branch conference which was nice. AAAAAND I totally sightread music for our little choir. So that was also fun. But the real fun happened in the evening... one of the families in the ward was flooded, so they were living at their parents house. It's way far out in campo, but I wanted to say goodbye so we made the trip on foot. We clapped outside and they opened the door and the 7 year old benjamin saw us and just started jumping up and down! then the 15 year old girl Bella saw us too! Benjamin just ran up and threw his arms around me.. I didn't really know what to do because technically you're not supposed to hug kids, so I just kind of stood there because I didn't have the heart to tell him to stop! Haha anyway we went in their house and visited with them and the other hermana who is 16 or 17 named Lilen. It was so sad when I told them I was leaving... they cried. And benjamin just came over and held my arm and laid his heahd on my shoulder and said "but I don't want you to leave, hermana reeve." MY HEART!! AHHH!! I got a very sweet letter from one of the hermanas and it was just so emotional. I never knew I could be an instrument of God in having that big of an effect on someone, but this family proved me wrong. I'll definitely never forget them :)

TODAY! Today was flashes! We met in Ramos Mejia and I got my new companion! Her name is Hermana Frogget, and she has 9 months in the mission. She's really sweet and quiet and I'm really loud and outgoing and stuff, so we make a good team!! We got to the pench and did some shopping for the week, then we went bowling with our district. Our district has 6 elders and 4 hermanas, but the other 2 hermanas didn't go, so it was just us and the elders. Kinda weird, but fun :)

This week has been really really great. I think I've had more changes in the last 2 months of my mission than I could have imagined, but I know I'm here in Caseros for a reason. Someone is here for me to find, and I felt that the second I found out that's where I was going. I just knew :)

I'm out of time, but until next week!!

 

 when we were baking!

 

-Hermana Reeve

The rains came down and the floods came up.... in Argentina

August 10th

Hey fam and friends :) this week was really crazy, and by crazy I mean not much happened. Tuesday, we had a zone meeting in Lujan. It was great and I got to see Elder Schoonover again!! After the zone meeting we did a division... which means I switched companions for a day! I was with Hermana Alvarez from Columbia, and she was actually in the CCM with Dallin which was kinda funny! haha but yeah, she didn´t speak english, and that was a little terrifying at first. BUT - I managed to get us home on the collectivo AND tell her about our investigators and stuff and that was a pretty huge confidence boost :) I directed the aread too, and I didn´t even get us lost!! We didn´t have much time to work, but we found this reference from a member... i thought he was an old investigator. He was really welcoming and we taught him a lesson on the book of mormon.. and he was like "oh I totally have all your church books!" and brings out the Bible, Libro de Mormon, doctrine and covenants, pearl of great price, and principios del evangelio!! We were like WHAT ON EARTH! THIS GUY IS GOLDEN! and I sacked a CPV with him and I was so excited! We had english classes that night too and those are always fun because all the ladies like to take selfies with us americans to put on facebook.... it´s pretty hilarious! The next morning, we got on the bus to Lujan which was another miracle because I had never done the bus by myself before, and hermana alvarez didn´t know how to do it from here in mercedes. So when I saw my comp again, I told her all about this new investigator and she was just laughing. I asked her why and she was like "hermana... he´s a less active! He´s a member of the church, that´s why he has all the books!" I just sat there in shock and then started laughing too. My life....

Thursday we were in the pench all day because my comp was really really sick. I studied for about 4 or 5 hours and wow, I never knew reading the scriptures and conference talks for that long could be fun!!

Friday and Saturday, we had an activity of the branch where we all invited as many nonmembers as possible to watch "conozca a los mormones" (meet the mormons) on a projector in the capilla. It ended up being a really nice activity even though not too many people showed up :)

Sunday was just..... weird. Good weird. but weird. Here´s why:

1: it was super rainy. Like... really wet. Everywhere. So we get a call from the branch president inviting us to ride to church in a remis (taxi) with them. THAT NEVER HAPPENS! So that is a real good indicator that we´re on good terms with our presidente del rama :)

2: we were just chillin in class, and I look out the window and who do I see? Our mission president. No biggie. I guess he just randomly decided to visit OUR branch that day for church! My comp thought I was nuts when I leaned over and said that I just saw president. She didn´t think I was nuts when we walked outside and he was standing there! Haha but yeah, and then president drove us home. So that was weird also, because we went to church and returned in a vehicle... which never happens.

3: a herd of 7 or 8 dogs walked up to us in the street while we were standing at a door knocking... normally, this isn´t that weird for argentina, but then they tried to hide under us and our bici´s.... and we aren´t very big people, so it was a pretty funny sight!!

3: we were at the home of a less active family, and they were fixing us maté and torta fritas and just chatting before the lesson... when the ELDERS came to do home teaching. What great timing... haha so the 4 of us were just sitting there and under my breath I said to one "we were here first, whatcha gonna do?" We ended up teaching a lesson with them, which was weird. real weird. But it was a great lesson so I can´t complain! 

Overall, this week was pretty good :) saw a friend from the mtc, talking more and more in the language, and overall a lot of growth!

Love you all :)

-Hermanaita Reeve-ita (this is what my comp calls me... haha)

Short and sweet... like the week!!

August 3rd


Hey fam and friends!

This week is gonna be kinda short and sweet :)

On friday we had a meeting because my companion is a STL, so we woke up at 3:30 a.m. to travel to Ramos Mejia by bus and then by train. Luckily, I didn´t puke this time ;) haha!! But yeah, the meeting was real nice and it was good to chill with some other hermanas and elderes. FUN FACT: I taught a piano lesson is Castellano! This cute little Brazilera was trying to play a song, and I was sitting there and this thought just came to me "she doesn´t know how to read flats." So I went over and was amazed that I was able to teach her how to read music, and about sharps and flats...and by the end of it she could play the top hand in the hymns! haha it felt so good!!

Speaking of talents, I was able to use my talent in choir on Sunday night and be the pianist! It was so calming and relaxing... 4 LESS ACTIVES CAME TO CHOIR!! and one of them is this little 8 year old kid named benjamin. He´s so dang funny, and he loves us! One time someone asked us why we were such nice people, and he said "because they´re misioneras, and misioneras are GOOD CHICAS!!" hahaha but yeah, he sat on the piano bench with me and put his hands over mine because he wanted to feel like he was playing the piano. Their family is so fun and the mom is finally coming back to church now that we are befriending their daughters, and now that her visiting teachers are actually visiting! haha but yeah, it was a good sunday... we had 1 inverstigator come to church, and we had like 4 or 5 less actives come that we committed to come this week. WE have 75 people there, that´s triple what we had my first week! Overall, a really good week, and a week of growth and a lot of faith :)

Thank you all for your prayers!! I love you all, and also, Jacob 2 & 3 & especially 4 are super good chapters in the Libro de Mormón. Read em :)

-Hermana Hailey Reeve

One incredible week!

July 27th

Well, this week was pretty darn amazing. My faith grew a ton. I am the happiest i´ve ever been, and I finally have acclimated to the cold... halfway ;) but it´s all good! I for reals love this south american culture!! My favorite thing is that everyone rides motos. My favorite... a mom, dad, and kid on a moto, with the kid smooshed between the dad and mom. the kid is holding their dog, and the mom is holding a tv. what..... ANYWAY! time for the week!

First, a little about this miracle that we had last night. A few days ago, I was looking in the area book and found this antiguo investigator named Gaston. We put him in the plans but never really got around to visiting him. the other night, one of our plans fell through and we went to visit him but didn´t have a solid direccion, so we asked around. we asked this family where he lived and they told us (because in this campo area, everyone knows their neighbors and it´s awesome). after they told us where he lived we started talking, and all of a sudden the guy was like "do you wanna come inside?" so of course we accepted!! we went inside and sat down and this couple has been married for 22 years. that´s HUGE. No one here gets married, they just live together, and it´s extremely hard to find someone that´s married. They have 4 sons, with ages 19, 14, 7 and 2. They´re so, so sweet. They don´t have a religion as a roadblock, which is also rare because we get rejected a lot because everyone is catholic. They agreed to read it together, and the husband said the prayer. This is also really rare for someone to agree to pray in the first lesson. He just looked at us and said "I don´t believe that this is a coincidence that you couldn´t find gaston. I think God sent you to this house." WE ARE SO SO SO EXCITED FOR THEM!! Seriously, they are such an incredible family and I´ve never felt so warm. ahhh man :) 

Another cool experience was with a menos activo. He has really bad health, and that is why he doesn´t go to church. He´s only been a member for a year and a half, but he still reads his scriptures every single day and everything. He lives in a house with 3 walls, had a pot of food cooking over a fire that was burning on woood and garbage, and just didn´t have a lot. He had this light in his eyes though, and he said "I know I have a very humble home, and don´t have a lot, but you hermanas are always welcome." I had never felt so peaceful than when I was sitting there, in the dirt, on a broken bucket talking with this man. I love these people so, so much!!

Fun fact: my comp and I went to a bday party this week of the 1 year old hija de our investigator! We had eaten this huge lunch (i´m not even kidding, I ate 3 heaping plates of food because you can´t say no here and I´ve never felt so sick in my life. bleh), and then right after we went to this party where they fed us more food! it was the first party my comp had ever been to, and we just couldn´t stop laughing... we never thought we´d be in this random house eating cake pops and celebrating the birthday of this little chiquitita... but it was so fun! i´ll try and send pictures next week :)

Now a bit about me... :) this week has been one of so much growth. My comp said "I don´t know what happened hermana, but I don´t ´feel like I´m teaching with someone who only has a month here after being home for 3 weeks." my language has improved dramatically!! I read an old letter from Elder DuFort this week, and he said "when you put that nametag on your chest, you´re Christ´s hands. You do what HE does, not what YOU do." That has made the difference this week. I´m forgetting myself, I´m loving the people, and I´m seeing MIRACLES!! It´s so beautiful. One of my favorite songs that my comp and I have been listening to this week is called "blessings." It says "what if your blessings come through raindrops, what if your healing comes through tears? what if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know you´re near? what if your greatest disappointments, or the aching of this life is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can´t satisfy? what if the trials of this life are your mercies in disguise?" I love this song. Let us all try to remember that sometimes, our trials are what bring us more joy in the long run :) thank you for your prayers. I feel them. Thank you to those that write me, and I´m unable to write back! I get so many emails a week, and I appreciate them all. I read them all, even if I don´t have time to write personally :) 

I love this work. I love this language. I love this country, and I love this gospel!

Love, Hermana Reeve