Happy Hump Day Elder Reid!!!

Wow! One year ago today we lugged Derek and his bulging suit cases into Grandma Reid's car and headed for the MTC. Since then it’s been a heck of a ride! Unbelievable how many blessing we’ve felt, and never would have guessed how much he would love his mission and serving the Lord! Highlight of our Christmas was getting to call him. I was just smiling and chuckling to myself as he definitely has a strong Spanish accent and was struggling to talk in English! It was pretty darn cute! He was talking about how when it rains, it pours there (literally) and we asked him if he needed a jacket... “no no, no jacket. It stays pretty warm.” Well, what do you do when it rains? “well, ummm, we wrap our um, Book of Mormons? (his voice trails up a lot), in ummm… plasteec? And just run and get like, soakin wet! And then you can hear people say…. Hey, look at the soppin wet gringo!” ha ha ha! He said they recently were teaching a sister from Arizona who spoke English so he was trying to teach in English and said it was really hard, remembering simple gospel words such as “Atonement” is now a struggle. Can you imagine what it will be like next year? I can’t wait!!! He hasn’t gotten sick in quite some time (YAY!) and said he probably has all kinds of things living and growing inside of him! He just got moved to a new area right before Christmas. It’s called Guasave (sp?) – a little bit bigger town than he’s used to. Get this, they actually have a Wal-mart AND a Burger King! I’m sure he loves that! They share an apartment with two other Elders, one of which is also from Utah. He said that Elder has a Christmas CD with the song “Where Are You Christmas” and he said in his last e-mail “I love that song mom, you gotta get that when I get home!” Funny thing is, we HAVE that soundtrack… funny what these young men hear and appreciate while serving. It was so great hearing his voice again! The maturity in his voice and personality made me cry! Send away a twit teenager, and in a matter of months they become compassionate young men with a multitude of feelings, wisdom and inspiration. It’s a wonderful plan our Heavenly Father has!

Some other highlights from recent e-mails he’s sent… It’s a bit long, the last two months have been soooooo busy! So I’m posting my favorite heart warming and/or funny things he’s said.

12/14/09 (12th day of Christmas present): We did the 12 days of Christmas for him and his Comp. The first gift was attached to poem about how Christmas is about giving. We gave them each cash that they had to give to someone they felt was in need. We sent these cute little Santa’s helper “thinking caps” to come up with something extra special. This was his reply to Day 1: ok so first things first -- i opened the gift and yes thank you, that is so great! and i have the perfect person to give it to, there is a sister in the ward and she wants to go to the temple but she has 3 kids and she has a husband that works but not too much money and they are going to go this April and so i am going to give it to her to help her to go to the temple for the first time -- so that will be so cool and i will let you know how it goes (his companion gave his money to her as well, love it!!!)

12/08/09: i got your packages for christmas and i was going to open all them right then and jsut peak but you have every one wrapped, haha! i should of known, you wrap everything!... (it’s true, I always have. I love the excitement watching the wonderment of a gift in someone’s hand before they rip it open, LOVE that part!) so i will wait and the notes on all them, you put some time into it! love you guys and thanks tons and tons! Blythe also made a life size tree out of felt to hang on his wall and made these super cute ornament cards! Thanks again to everyone who signed one for him, he loved it! Said he tacked it right into the concrete wall!

A favorite!... So we have one baptism planned this week but we will see, i think it is a go - i hope. But it is going good and learning lots . the people here in potrero are really good and so nice and it is amazing to serve here and all my areas i have loved so much and i have learned so much in jsut this short time. i dont know how they can say that the first year is so long because it doesn’t seem like I’ve almost been out a year. i still tell people i have 10 months and its really like 11 and quarter. it is insane how much i have learned, not only with the language but more about me and how i need to trust in the lord more and that i know i can’t jsut do it on my own and that really the things that i am good at and how i can be good at many things is because he gives us our talents and my PB says that i have been given many talents which are to bless the lives of others. says nothing of my life, but others and that is what i am learning - how to rely on the lord and know that i cant just do it on my own.....and i am so glad to be here serving and truly it is the mission for me. i was called here and i couldnt serve anywhere else - i love my mission and it is the best decision i couild of made for myself.........and i am learning more and more patience because my companion right now is a little different and does things wierd and i am learning to not get mad or let it show at all -- but it is good i am more patient really haha -- i will talk to you in 16 days now haha oh boy crazy haha love you and i am out of time love you guys....Love Elder REid

11/30/09: this week we completed the goal of the mission so we got to wear clothes like pants and tshirt and it is a weird feeling! haha i dont know about this and how i am going to survive at home haha (yeah… whoa! whoa! and double whoa! Derek, is that you???)

11/16/09: ok, first no i don’t have a microwave and yes i don’t even have a shower. just a hole in the wall that spits out freezing cold water at 6:30 in the morning - how about that for a wake up call!

any sweet treat you have been CRAVING? Like, someone might get their arm chewed off if you don't get one? Ha ha! J/K and no not really i have abondoned the craving for sweets that i liked really alot because i dont remember them ahaha but ya so what ever you feel i would like will be perfect

(I had a bizarre dream that Derek got sent home for meeting a girl and taking her to the movies – that same morning I was getting strange texts from someone in Spanish which was ironic! So I was joking with him about it…) “no i am not going to get sent home and no i dont even talk to the women ahah - but the other day one drove by and said “come to my house becasue i want to learn more about the gospel” while laughing and hten drove off and sayed guapo which is handsome – “so, why thank you, but no!” ha ha

and ya it is good here, lots of little towns and lots of hoping for rides again so i am used to it now and the church is a little sad. the one we had 9 people in sac and the other we had just one sister come, yeah - jsut one and so i think i need to work harder in reactivating members than in baptisms here so we will see what happens.