Yaaaaaayy!!!!!

This week was phenomenal! In summary.... M was baptized!

It was a pretty exciting day. And a little nerve-wracking. It took a little bit of unexpected work to put it all together.

SISTER REAY'S FIRST BAPTISM

9:20 Sister Reay and Sister Mabey begin driving the church to prepare for the baptism at 11. 

9:23 Sister Reay and Sister Mabey recieve a call from concerned member claiming that it takes two hours, not one, to fill the font. 

9:25 Sister Reay and Sister Mabey arrive at the church and unlock the font, only to find that the font is littered with dirt. Not just dust, but actual clumps of dirt. 

9:26 Sister Mabey bravely does battle with a broom against dirt and many spiders while Sister Reay attempts to fill the mop bucket. 

9:30 Sister Reay brings the full mop bucket to Sister Mabey, who has swept up most of the dirt. Sister Mabey begins to mop. 

9:40 Elder Hull and Elder VonSosen arrive to help. Elder Hull assists with mopping the font steps. 

9:45 The font is fully mopped and the faucet turned on, full blast. It appears as though it will fill on time. 

9:50 Just in case, the elders begin a bucket brigade from the janitor's closet. 

10:20 The font is filling pretty well, so the bucket brigade is stopped. 

10:27 M arrives, calming our fears (the fears that plague every missionary) that he wouldn't show up. 

10:30 Paperwork is filled out, baptism clothes are on. The elders explain how baptism is performed. 

10:42 Sister Hofer, who was from the companionship that found M, arrived with Sister Stearns to give her talk. 

10:45 The font is pretty well filled, so we turn it off. We discover that the drain has a slow leak. We turn the faucet on really low to combat it. 

10:50 The ward mission leader arrives with the programs. We correct the errors and changes in the program. Elder Hall and Elder Gwilliam arrive. 

10:55 We retreat to the Relief Society room. Prelude music starts. Members arrive. All is well. 

On Sunday M was confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. It has been so amazing to see him progress and come closer to Christ. We are so proud of him! Baptism is his first step toward eternal life. He is amazing! 

Things are so good here! Transfers are coming tomorrow. Sister Mabey is going home. I am so sad to lose her, but I know she will do great wherever she is! Elder VonSosen is also being transferred and will be missed. 

Keep those prayers coming! Great things are happening! 

Taking the test *gasp*

Hello hello! 

This week was phenomenal! On Monday we mostly laid low and did a lot of relaxing. The rest of the week was kind of scattered, so I will just do the highlights:

We had a lot of really freaky thunderstorms. It was so much fun. 

Sister Mabey wasn't feeling well one day and the elders dropped by, uninvited, to deliver some cookies that happened to be her favorite kind. Such a nice bit of service. 

We called a lot of our potential investigators. Most of them did not answer, but some did!

Saturday we met with M with Brother Shue again to familiarize him with the baptismal interview questions and go over any questions he had for his upcoming baptism!! He is so ready. It went great. 

On Sunday M had his baptismal interview! He passed *whew* Not that there was any doubt on our part. He is a great guy. Also, D surprised us by coming to church! He is out of school now so we will hopefully be meeting more often. 

We had a fun dinner at Sister Brown's house Sunday night. It was a blast. 

Thatxs all for now, folks. Stay tuned for next week! 

Love, 

Sister Reay 

P-day at the lake and an overdue zone activity picture!

Three blisters and a sunburn and I feel great!

Hey everyone!

We had a bit of a hectic week, but most of it wasn't exciting, so I'll spare you the details. Suffice to say that a lot of missionary work was involved.

Tuesday we did the usual things and had dinnerwith a memberfamily, where we had a lot of fun with their kids. We also had a great Book of Mormon class. On Wednesday we had district meeting with donuts and the zone leaders. It was a good time. Afterward we drove a very long while to get to a doctor's appointment. That took up a lot of the day, but I did meet a nice young man who had been in a dirt bike accident and talked to him and his parents a little. 

We don't havethe car this week, so webiked, bused, and walked quite a bit. Hydration was key, since it was pretty hot out. Luckily I only forgot to sunscreen a couple places. 

Saturday was really fun. We went with the elders and a member to help out at the stables where she worked. We cleaned stalls, cleared a field, painted, and helped put up a fence. Also we got to pet the horses, which was my favorite part. The owners, who are nonmembers, were very grateful. That night we went for another lesson with M. He is doing so well! 

We are looking forward to a great week (one that includes air-conditioned travel). Keep those prayers coming! 

Love,

Sister Reay 

I don't currently have pictures from the stables, so here are some fishing pictures from Monday. :)

Who Knew Fish Liked Pepperoni?

Sooooo I composed and sent a group email like an hour ago, but apparently it vanished. So here is the highlight version. 

We had two visits with M. Both times we brought the recent convert Brother Shue, and they really hit it off, which was great. The elders came the second time because Brother Shue was being their taxi for the day. He is progressing really well.

We had a low-key fourth of July, had lunch with a member family, and did service for another member. 

We tracted in sketchy places and found really nice people. Who invited us back. Also some nearby members invited us to dinner. We are so blessed. 

We rode the bus and met a very chatty Pentacostal man. 

Today we went fishing with Brother Shue and the elders and didn't have much luck until we started using leftover Little Caesars. They were just little ones, but at least we got something. 

Pray for bike week!

Love,

Sister Reay 

Pictures 

-Nice day for fishing

-New friends during service

In other news, I saw a raccoon this week

On Tuesday we met with E, a recent convert in the other ward, who was visiting her aunt in our area. She is only 10 and super sweet. We also met a less-active member's non-member husband. He had a sweet red '78 pickup that he had fixed up, so we talked about that for a while. He was a funny guy. We also had a great Book of Mormon class. 

We started off Wednesday with district meeting and took some great district pictures at the end. Later in the evening we met with an old Baptist lady at an assisted living facility. She couldn't really hear us, but luckily we were outside so we could shout. She gave us a nice long Baptist prayer and some spirituals at the end, which was very interesting and pretty neat. 

Thursday was great because we had interviews. I got to do some family-oriented roleplays with Sister Alexander and had a good talk with President Alexander. Afterward, our ride, Sister Brown,got us pizza. We also went on exchanges! I went back to Burlington with Sister Hickenlooper. We had a great lesson that evening with our investigator D, who I haven't been able to meet because of school until now. We had a great lesson, even though it was a little awkward teaching someone our own age the Law of Chastity. ;)

Friday was full of rain on and off all afternoon. Fortunately we had the car, so it didn't bother us much. We got to visit Sister T, who just had major surgery but is so sweet. We also had dinner with the R family. The highlight of Saturday was when we met with our investigator M and committed him to a baptism date!

On Sunday, both M and D came to church! That was the first time for me, and I'm so excited to see them progress. 

Love y'all! Have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Reay 

Pictures:

-Attempting district picture 

-Another attempt

-Actual district picture

-Fun at interviews

Burlington: Apparently it's the home of the coat factory

Hola everyone!

This week has been absolutely fantastic as I've gotten to know Burlington! On Monday I had one last dinner with the H family, and it was really sad to say goodbye. But Tuesday was super exciting! We drove down to the Hilliard building so I could meet up with Sister Mabey and Sister Christiansen could get her new trainee! I wish her the best. The ride back to Burlington was pretty long, but we got there. It's a really nice place! I love it already!

On Wednesday we visited a Bible referral with a member, volunteered at the library, and then..... went biking! I am in a tri-share again! It's not as bad as I remembered it, despite nearly swearing to death. It's a lot nicer when it's cloudy out. But I'm actually really glad for the exercise. 

On Thursday we spent most of the day helping the Burlington Elders, Elder Hull and Elder VonSosen, move into a new apartment because their old one was sketchy and full of mildew. The senior couple over housing, the Monteleones, were there to organize it all. They took us and the elders to lunch and because it went so late they took us to dinner too. So nice! 

Friday was district meeting. We are with the Burlington elders and the Gibsonville elders, Elder Hall and Elder Gwilliam (no, not a typo, that is actually his name).  We also have the zone leaders, but they weren't there. Elders Gwilliam and VonSosen are both brand-new trainees, which is super fun! They are doing great. We biked around for a while and then had dinner with a member, Sister M. She was super sweet. We went to her house after to study the Doctrine and Covenants, since she's a convert and wants to learn more about it. 

Saturday's service cancelled on us, so we did a lot of finding on our bikes. We did get to go to lunch with a member, Brother S, who told us his crazy conversion study. Long story short, miracles do happen. Anyway, it got really cloudy in the afternoon and we biked home to meet our dinner appointment about five minutes before it started pouring buckets #blessed. We visited a Bible referral with the member, and she and her husband seemed pretty interested, so we'll see how that goes. 

Yesterday was fun. I got to meet many members of this wonderful ward. We went to dinmer at the B's house. It was so fun. Sister B made some fancy pizza that I liked even though it had onions on it. Then we went with her to help the Gibsonville eldersmove one of their investigators who had just been evicted. That went late, but with everyone helping, it was way faster than it could have been. 

All in all it has been a great and exiting week! 

My new address is:

790 Boone Station Dr. Apt. A

Burlington, NC 27215

Love, 

Sister Reay 

Pictures! 

-Goodbye to Sister Christiansen 

-Goodbye to the H Family

-It's a cow

-Riding the bus

-Biking selfie

-Burlington water tower 

-Dinner with the Monteleones