May the SPIRIT be with you

Hello friends and family! Hope it has been a blessed week for all y'all because it sure was for us. 

It was bike week and rather warm, so we were SUPER thankful for any and all members that gave us rides places! That included on Tuesday night, when we went to the youth activities with our dinner for that night. They were doing artwork of the first vision, so we helped out with that because we are pretty much experts on the First Vision. It was also great to get to know the girls. They are super sweet. 

Speaking of super sweet people, we had another lesson with D this week, and it was amazing! We talked about our life on earth and emphasized the importance of keeping the commandments, especially the commandment to be baptized. Dee Dee said she really really really REALLY wanted to be baptized. We told her to start thinking of a date, and she chose one... about three weeks from now! We asked if she thought she could be prepared by then, and she said, "I don't think, I know!" She is so great! We love her. 

On Wednesday, we had district meeting. I gave a training about the Christlike attributes chapter in Preach My Gospel, which is probably my favorite chapter, so I was excited. To be honest, I don't think I even knew that chapter existed before I went on my mission. But now that I've studied it, I love it! We talked about how the Chrisrlike attributes (the ones discussed in PMG are Faith, Hope, Charity and Love, Virtue, Knowledge, Patience, Humility, Diligence, and Obedience) are SO essential to develop as a missionary, because they lead you to serve and love as Christ did. They are so essential in our everyday life, as well! As we strive to become more like Christ, we will align our will with Heavenly Father and be a more effective servant for him. I can also testify that striving to become Christlike makes you happy! Things don't get you down as much, you are focused on the positive, and you see the good in others. At the end of the training I had each missionary explain what Christlike attribute they saw most in thwir companion. It really brought in the Spirit as we focused on the goodness and strengths of others. 

Okay, one more hightlight: Friday, as you may know, was May the Fourth Be With You Day, AKA Star Wars Day. As missionaries, we focus less on the force and more on one of the more powerful forces in the universe: the Spirit! And the good news is, we have been promised that we can always have this Spirit with us as we keep the commandments, take the sacrament, pray, and, I might especially say, reading the scriptures! As Sister Willson paraphrased from Alma 31:5 "The word...had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the [lightsaber], or anything else." That power is accessible to all who seek for it. 

Whew! Two spiritual thoughts in one week! Hope you didn't keel over from the Spirit, it may do that to you. Have a blessed week! 

Love,

Sister Reay 

When in doubt, horse pictures

You can see a bit of my Sister "Rey" hair. No we did not proselyte like this

How to break into your own car

Hello everyone! What a week! We've had a lot of highlights!

Monday was our zone activity of course, and I have a few more pictures from that. Tuesday was a fairly normal Tuesday. We had a video lesson with a recent convert, A. She is super sweet! We love that we can use technology when people would otherwise be unable to meet. We also had a phone lesson with another investigator and visited a member and her grandkids that evening. They are not members, and they are super cute. We haven't met their parents yet, but once we do we are excited to start realky teaching them! 

Wednesday we had a great district meeting. I am still getting used to being in such a small district again, but it is fun! Another great thing we have on Wednesdays is our "Winston War Cry." (Our zone is the Winston Warriors) We all get to have a video chat with each other about a topic that we vote on earlier in the week. This week we talked about our comission as missionaries to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is neat to hear everyone's insights. 

On Thursday we had lunch with my trainer, Sister Hill!  She's been home for a few months and came back to visit the mission with her parents and older sister. It was so much fun to see her again and catch up a little, since I haven't seen her much since I ended training. She served in Tanglewood, so she was excited to visit the zone. It was great! I love her! Friday we had service at the stables, of course (you should probably brace yourselves for me saying something about that every week). That went as usual. 

One thing that seems unique about Bethania is that we get media referrals all the time. In other areas we might get one once a week. This week we recieved about 6, and the week before we got even more. So a lot of our time was spent arranging times with them and going over to visit. It is a great way to meet people and talk anout the gospel, without having to knock on random doors. We even got a couple of Book of Mormon referrals, which was neat! 

We had a little adventure on Saturday night, which leads me too... 🥁🥁🥁 drum roll please 🥁🥁🥁 The spiritual thought of the week! To begin, we have a very nice, very fancy car that we are ever-so-blessed to have. One of the nice things about this car is the "keyless entry" feature. No need to dig the key fob out of our bags- we just get the key fob within three feet of the door, press a button on the handle, and voila! The door opens. You don't need the key to start the car either. The car simply senses that they key is inside and start with the press of a button. Very nice feature. 

Well, we learned on Saturday night that there are downsides to fanciness. We had just filled up on gas and were coming back from the convenience store. Sister Willson pushed the unlock button on the handle... and nothing happened. The key was running out of battery, and could no longer unlock the door! Luckily the mechanical key also has a "real" key on the inside, so we were able to figure out how to get in and drive home (it took all of the skills I had gained from escape rooms and watching crime dramas). But we weren't allowed to drive the car all of Sunday and now today we have to drive immediately to the dealership to get the key's battery replaced. What a hassle. 

The lesson I drew from this is: don't put your trust in worldly things. Sometimes we get drawn away by the fanciness, flashiness, and "new-ness" of the world. But if we had just had an old-fashioned, boring, gets-lost-in-our-bags type of key, we never would have had this problem. Worldly things will always fail eventually, no matter how much we feel we get pleasure from them. They will just keep leading us on and on to "the next best thing." If we stick to the basics- the things God tells us will make us truly happy- then they will never fail us. They will always lead us where we need to go. 

Hope that all makes sense a little bit. Have a great week y'all!

Love,

Sister Reay 

Family picture! Me, my step-daughter, her mother, and my step-granddaughter 

Our lil zone

Sister Hill! 

Tanglewood and beyond!

Hello hello everyone! This week was almost as exciting as the last one, which is saying a lot!

One funny thing about the surrounding areas up here is that the in the Tanglewood ward boundaries there are two church buildings. We meet at one of them along with the Winston-Salem ward and the Piedmont Spanish branch. So we have to cross over one area and drive into another area just to get to church. So we end up leaving our area actually quite a lot. 

We started out having interviews on Tuesday, which were in Tanglewood. We were the last interviews of the day, which is always nice because we're not running late on anyone so I got to have a nice chat with President Alexander. He is in an interesting position because he has only two transfers left on his mission! Our new mission president comes in at the beginning of July. Crazy!

Wednesday was our first district meeting of the transfer. Our district has one set of elders and two sets of sisters, so it's a bit smaller than my last district. And this is the first time I've been in a district where sisters outnumber the elders! It was a great meeting. Also, in our district we have Sister Willson, Sister Wilson, and Elder Wilson. President must have laughed when he put that district together. 

After district meeting, we went on exchanges! I went to Tanglewood with Sister "One L" Wilson. We had a great time visiting people. We also got to do service at an assisted living facility where we baked brownies and played games. We exchanged back on Thursday. 

Friday we went to the stables again, and this time I took some pictures so you could see some of the horses! You're welcome. We also had another lesson with D! She is doing so well. She wasn't able to come to church this week, but we are working on helping her go next week! 

Also on Friday night I got asked to give a talk on Sunday, so that was what I studied during Saturday morning studies. My topic was "How I find joy in missionary work." It actually went very well! I shared some experiences from my mission. The basic theme that I came down on is that there can always be joy in the work. True, most of the joy comes from seeing people change, repent, and be baptized. I have found a lot of joy with other people as they find the joy of the gospel. But even when things are going wrong, we can find joy in the fact that we are doing the Lord's work, and he is pleased with all of our efforts- whether they turned out the way we planned or not. 

That about wraps it up for this week. We had zone activity today so that was fun. Everyone keep being amazing!

Love,

Sister Reay 

Horses!

The companions reunited 

Betcha didn't see THAT coming

Hello everyone! It's been a bit of a crazy week, as you will soon see... 

On Tuesday Sister Laney and I did some normal work mixed with her trying to fit 18 months worth of stuff into three suitcases. That took a bit of time. Then on Wednesday we got transfer calls... and I found out I was being transferred! Well, a mission is full of surprises, I guess. So I had to scramble to pack all of my things, too, and get the apartment all cleaned and ready for the two new sisters.

Thursday was transfer day, so we packed up and left good old Rock Hill behind  I know it's in good hands though. Sister Laney went off to the mission home, and I joined my new companion, Sister Willson, and went up to... BETHANIA! It's a beautiful area up near Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Apparently it started as an old Moravian settlement. What a Moravian is, I still don't know, but I'm sure they're nice people. 

My time in Bethania started off on a good note as we went on Friday to do service at a horse rescue/boarding/training facility. If you know anything about me, you'll know I was VERY happy to help some horses and some horse people out. We had a good time doing that. Later on that day, we went to go teach a young woman named D. Her mom is a member, but she hasn't been baptized yet. She is super sweet and loved learning and listening to everything we had to tell her. Her family has a rough time trying to get to church, but we hope to get her there soon! 

Saturday we had a video lesson with a man named J, who was a Bible referral. He asked a lot of good questions and seemed really eager to understand. He was able to come to church on Sunday as well. We aee excited to keep teaching him. 

There are a lot of great people that we are working with in Bethania, but since it it bike week and Sister Willson came down with a bit of a cold we weren't able to visit all of them. We are in a tri-share though so today we get the car back for two weeks! We'll see more of them this next week. 

Spiritual thought of the week! This actually happened on Sunday evening. We got a message from our zone leaders earlier in the day warning us about a storm coming in and telling us to make sure we had our flashlights out in case the power went out. The weather didn't look especially threatening at the time, but we got our flashlights out anyway. Well, a couple of hours later, the power did indeed go out! Luckily, we had been warned, and we were prepared. In the same way, we should be concerned about our spiritual preparation. We have leaders in the church that can warn us and tell us the things we should do. If we prepare ourselves by keeping the commandments, praying, reading the scriptures, ect, while things are good, then we won't be caught off guard when disaster or hardships strike. We are filled with the "Light of Christ" to help us through the darkness. 

That's all the excitement I can take for one week, I think. Take care everyone, and stay prepared!

Love,

Sister Reay 

The lovely Sister Wilson and I at transfers

Be prepared!

What A Knight!

Hello everyone! Wow has it been an exciting week. I can hardly contain myself. It was pretty great.

The week started off pretty normal. Zone activity was Monday. On Tuesday we went for our normal volunteer time and happened to come at the same time as a huge group that was renovating the landscaping. We got recruited into digging holes for new shrubs. The first row was easy, but the second row was up on a slick, steep hill. We couldn't even stand within a few feet of each hole, so we were kind of just jabbing at it over and over hoping the clay would break. Eventually though a couple of guys came out with a pickaxe and made quick work of it that way. It was pretty fun and we got to talk to some new people to, which was great!

We had our last district meeting of the transfer on Wednesday, and we had brownies and ice cream for Sister Laney and Elder Herring, who will both be leaving us  Sad day. But the brownies were pretty good anyway. Sister Laney is finishing her time in the Carolinas this week (!) and will be going home at transfers! Crazy!

On Friday the sister training  leaders came and spent the day with us. We went to a couple appointments and found someone who was interested in the Book of Mormon, all while trying to set Sister Laney's affairs in order so we don't have to stress so much next week. They spent the night with us, and we all went to Charlotte the next day for the GLADYS KNIGHT FIRESIDE! 

Yes that's right! We had Gladys Knight with her choir, Saints United Voices, come to Charlotte for a very spiritual performance! It was AMAZING! We drove up with M and the York sisters. It turned out to be a good idea to carpool, because parking was pretty limited and they had to shuttle us from a parking lot down the road. We had an investigator who was going to come, but got sick last minute and couldn't make it. It was PACKED there, and the line was around more than half the building (luckily tickets were all free). We were seated in the back half of the church, but they had a screen up so we could see. The choir was just phenomenal, and even though their songs were a little different than most of us missionaries knew you could really feel the Spirit. The crowd was at least half non-members, so things went a little differently than I was familiar with. Some people raised their hands or stood up or shouted amens as they felt the Spirit, which is really the culture in the South but not something I had seen a lot. It was really neat to see everyone come together in worship and praise! Everyone was loosened up a little by the end, even the missionaries. And yes, Gladys Knight sang a few solos. It was amazing. 

One of the main things emphasized by Gladys Knight was the fact that we are all brothers and sisters. Because we are all children of Heavenly Father, we all share the same divine heritage. If we recognize this, there's no room for hatred or intolerance. As Sister Knight said in the devotional, "Who are we to tell Him how to paint?" 

That about sums it up for the week. Hope y'all had as much fun as I did. Transfers are coming up next week, so stay tuned as I find out who will be my new companion!

Love ,

Sister Reay 

Us, M and the York sisters having dinner after the performance!

WOW

Hello everyone! I hope all of you watched conference because it was just AMAZING. But first, some business items. 

This week was pretty normal until Thursday, when we went on exchanges!  I went up to Mountain Island with Sister Erickson! It was very fun. We got to visit a few people and had dinner with a great member. I missed a few lessons back in Rock Hill, but good things happened while I was gone.The next day we went to ZONE CONFERENCE! It was such a good conference. One thing they did differently this time was they had the assistants give short talks instead of trainings, and it really brought in the Spirit. We talked a lot about the gospel of Jesus Christ, which we're studying in the Book of Mormon together. We also had a testimony meeting. Then Sister Laney got the chance to bear her departing testimony (which missionaries do at their last zone conference). So yes, she is outta here in a week and a half. Pretty crazy to think about! I still have quite a bit left though, so no worries there. 

The highlight of this action-packed week was of course GENERAL CONFERENCE! Which lined up with Easter Sunday this year, which makes it even better! It was great. We watched the first session with the young women at the young womens president's house and had a fun breakfast there. For the afternoon, we went to another member's house and had dinner! We chose to watch the Sunday sessions at the church before Easter dinner at another amazing member's house. 

Plenty of exciting stuff happened in conference. For one, we sustained Russell M. Nelson as the Lord's chosen prophet and president of the Church of Jesus Christ on eath. That was an incredibly spiritual moment as we all gave our common consent. Then we sustained two new apostles, Elders Gerrit W. Gong and Ulisses Soares, to replace those that had passed away. Then we had reorganization in the function and organization of priesthood and Relief Society. One of my favorite parts was when President Nelson announced seven new temples, including one in India and one in Russia(!). We were especially excited about the one in India, because our ward mission leader and his family are from there! We are so happy for them 

People keep asking me what my favorite talk was. It was really at least half of them. I can't think of one ABSOLUTE favorite. I'll probably talk about more as they come, but one quote that stuck out to me was from M. Russell Ballard, who talked about faith (which, coincidentally, is the first principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ): "Faith removes our personal mountains." We may not always need to have grand miracles happen to solve our problems. God usually doesn't work that way. But our faith can help us push forward, trusting in God, and knowing that he can either remove the mountain or help us clim over it, making us stronger at every step. I don't know if that's too metaphorical, but that quote really struck me. 

Hope y'all are having a great week! Be sure to re-read or listen to those talks as they come. I'll probably keep sharing for a few weeks because they are just so good! 

Love,

Sister Reay  

We had zone activity today but didn't get a picture, so here's an older picture of the sisters in our district. 

Pizza Party!

Hello friends and family and happy Monday to you!

This week seemed to go really fast! One of the things that made it all blur together was that we had pizza about four times this week. People kept having things come up when they were going to have us over so they were kind and ordered pizza instead. Now, don't get me wrong, pepperoni pizza is one of my favorite foods. But since we only eat two slices each usually, each pizza is two meals' worth of food. Plus the frozen pizza in the fridge, and, well, you get the idea. We are all pizza-ed out. 

Tuesday this week was pretty exciting. We were riding to Book of Mormon class with M and it started getting really stormy-looking, with a little bit of rain and some SUPER dark clouds rolling in. We had to drive toward the storm to get to the church, and before we knew it it was raining so hard I couldn't even tell if the road was flooded or just wet. We were on a two-lane highway with not really many options to turn, so we kept going. Then it started hailing, and I literally thought that the windsheild was going to crack open and all the water would come pouring in (I may have been exaggerating a little in my head). There was thunder and lightning all over. Then, as we were in the home stretch toward the church, it stopped. All around the church building the clouds were thinning and the sunset was coming through, and it was totally clear. M joked that she would talk about it in testimony meeting, but it actually was pretty neat. 

Thursday we combined interviews and district meeting at the Gastonia building, so we wouldn't have to get more than one ride. Both were very good. Hopefully I can send a district picture next week. Interviews were excellent as well. I love talking to President and Sister Alexander.

On Sunday, we had a returning less-active member come to church with her nonmember husband, which was great! Then we went to Sunday School in Chester at a member's house way out in the country. It was a very beautiful drivem especially since spring is on the way and things are starting to "leaf."

Spiritual thought of the week! Since we won't be having regular church on Sunday (GENERAL CONFERENCE ) we had a very Christ-centered program.  One of the things they talked about was the document The Living Christ, which was put out by the prophets and apostles on January 1, 2000. It is their testimony, built on scriptures, of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you have never read it, please do so! It is AMAZING! One of my favorite parts is when it quotes the writing of Joseph Smith:

“And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

“For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—

“That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God" (Doctrien and Covenants 76: 22-24). 

I know that Jesus Christ lives! That's what I'm out here telling people. I can't wait to celebrate His Ressurection this Easter, and to hear from our prophets and apostles, who are witnesses of His reality and divinity. I've lost a few people over the course of my mission, and the knowledge of Christ's atonement and resurrection brings me great peace. 

I love y'all! Hope you have an amazing week and take advantage of this amazing weekend. 

Love,

Sister Reay 

Sorry I don't have any exciting pictures, just our pizza boxes...